2008 Woodie Awards
FRIENDS explores alternatives
Nicholas Wheeler
Issue date: 10/23/02 Section: News
by Nicholas Wheeler
Over the last year, a group of Georgetown students, faculty, and administrators have joined forces in the ad hoc FRIENDS group in order to combat the harms associated with high-risk alcohol use in the Georgetown community. The groups new role in life on the Hilltop will be highlighted over the next month by two events in particular: the publishing of a report on the FRIENDS initiative in the Journal of American College Health, co-authored by Scott Minto, a 2002 alumnus, and Rich Bennett, a business senior, with Dr. Bette Keltner, Dean of the School of Nursing and Health Studies, and Dr. Dan Porterfield, Vice President for Communications and Public Affairs; and the campus-wide first-annual celebration of "Georgetown Traditions Day" this Nov. 19.
The FRIENDS initiative started in the summer of 2001 as a series of open, frank conversations between concerned members of the community. The motivations of the participants varied. Porterfield expressed a concern common to many faculty, saying, "Personally, I attend a number of campus events, and I will from time to time work late, and so I have seen first-hand students who, having had too much to drink, are zoned out and at risk of falling down a flight of steps, of getting mugged."
Bennett, on the other hand, was angered by university policies that seemed to punish responsible drinkers by, for example, putting an end to the Block Party tradition. Looking back upon his own experiences, he says, "I was ignorant of how university policy functioned. I had heard rumors ... We really were not doing anything wrong except to have a goddamn beer. We were being safe and intelligent, and we were still being harassed [by the Department of Public Safety]. That annoyed me. It was degrading Georgetown's community."
Whether motivated by a personal desire to see safe, on-campus socializing protected, or by a desire to reduce the potential for harm inherent in binge drinking, the participants in the early discussions decided that a systematic response to conditions in Georgetown was necessary. The result was the formation of the FRIENDS initiative, which now boasts some 60 people. The group is ad hoc, has neither president nor charter from the University, and, as stated in the Journal of American College Health article, the members value this independence: "We wanted our authority to come from the quality of our ideas and the power of our action, rather than from a presidential or student affairs' charge."
Over the last year, a group of Georgetown students, faculty, and administrators have joined forces in the ad hoc FRIENDS group in order to combat the harms associated with high-risk alcohol use in the Georgetown community. The groups new role in life on the Hilltop will be highlighted over the next month by two events in particular: the publishing of a report on the FRIENDS initiative in the Journal of American College Health, co-authored by Scott Minto, a 2002 alumnus, and Rich Bennett, a business senior, with Dr. Bette Keltner, Dean of the School of Nursing and Health Studies, and Dr. Dan Porterfield, Vice President for Communications and Public Affairs; and the campus-wide first-annual celebration of "Georgetown Traditions Day" this Nov. 19.
The FRIENDS initiative started in the summer of 2001 as a series of open, frank conversations between concerned members of the community. The motivations of the participants varied. Porterfield expressed a concern common to many faculty, saying, "Personally, I attend a number of campus events, and I will from time to time work late, and so I have seen first-hand students who, having had too much to drink, are zoned out and at risk of falling down a flight of steps, of getting mugged."
Bennett, on the other hand, was angered by university policies that seemed to punish responsible drinkers by, for example, putting an end to the Block Party tradition. Looking back upon his own experiences, he says, "I was ignorant of how university policy functioned. I had heard rumors ... We really were not doing anything wrong except to have a goddamn beer. We were being safe and intelligent, and we were still being harassed [by the Department of Public Safety]. That annoyed me. It was degrading Georgetown's community."
Whether motivated by a personal desire to see safe, on-campus socializing protected, or by a desire to reduce the potential for harm inherent in binge drinking, the participants in the early discussions decided that a systematic response to conditions in Georgetown was necessary. The result was the formation of the FRIENDS initiative, which now boasts some 60 people. The group is ad hoc, has neither president nor charter from the University, and, as stated in the Journal of American College Health article, the members value this independence: "We wanted our authority to come from the quality of our ideas and the power of our action, rather than from a presidential or student affairs' charge."