Sid, Martel, Hanszen warned about alcohol policy violation

By Viola Hsia     9/17/24 11:04pm

Sid Richardson, Martel and Hanszen Colleges have all received a warning regarding a violation of the alcohol policy, according to an email sent by Dean of Undergraduates Bridget Gorman to the three colleges’ presidents and magisters. 

Should there be any more reports of the colleges violating alcohol-policy related rules, college-wide sanctions will be placed, Gorman wrote in her email, which was obtained by the Thresher. Gorman confirmed the email’s existence and contents. 

“All students have a responsibility to know the rules for alcohol as detailed in our campus alcohol policy — and leaders of these events are expected and required to share the rules for approved events like Mock Bike to occur, and to step up and prevent others from bringing alcohol to a dry event if and when they see it happening,” Gorman wrote in her email. 

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According to the email, the warning came after alcohol was present at the colleges’ joint Mock Bike, hosted in the week leading up to Beer Bike, last spring.

Hanszen Chief Justice Laura Yee said the email was sent after Gorman met with the three college presidents.

“It was the one of the days in the middle of O-Week that there was a meeting between the three presidents of those colleges and [Dean Gorman],” Yee, a Hanszen senior, said. “The dean sent an email after that.”

Yee further added that the new sanctions were placed in light of the university’s stricter alcohol policies following last fall’s Wiess College public, Night of Decadence.

“We were already on thin ice as an entire university [regarding alcohol consumption],” Yee said, “There’s always a little bit of gray area where a lot of students don’t know the registration process for events through student activities, and the difference between wet versus dry events … The big catalyst for the [warning] of these three specific colleges was our mock bike event.”

Former Sid Richardson Chief Justice Jared Duran said that there was a tailgate held right before the event that contributed to the alcohol being present.

“I remember getting there late, and I remember seeing [the tailgate],” Duran, a senior, said. “I went to the stands, came back and I see, pretty sure it was, the director of Rice EMS. She was taking pictures. I’m pretty sure she called [Rice University Police Department]. It was guaranteed to be a bigger thing.”

Yee said that while there’s no specific end date for the warning, administration had said that the restrictions were for this current semester.

According to Yee, the new warning hasn’t affected many of the public events at Hanszen. The main hurdle with this new policy is the differences’ in the three colleges’ physical layouts and how that affects partying, Yee said.

“I personally have trouble reconciling Hanszen’s geography with the policy, because we don’t have big suites, we don’t have spaces that are private, where I could, as CJ, allow people to throw parties,” Yee said. “It’s a little unfortunate that all the colleges are so different, and that one blanket policy is gonna affect colleges differently, but I think we’re kind of still working through the weeds on that one.”

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