The Daily Gamecock

SAPE aims for safe environment, limited liability

<p>Substance Abuse Prevention and Education Coordinator Emily Epting gives a presentation on USC alcohol policies to faculty and staff on Friday, Sept. 23 at Strom Thurmond Wellness and Fitness Center.</p>
Substance Abuse Prevention and Education Coordinator Emily Epting gives a presentation on USC alcohol policies to faculty and staff on Friday, Sept. 23 at Strom Thurmond Wellness and Fitness Center.

This semester's first Substance Abuse and Prevention and Education's monthly Alcohol Policy Workshops covered key points of USC's alcohol and drug policies Friday morning.

The University of South Carolina Alcohol Policy states that any campus organization or academic department looking to host an event on campus with beer or wine must register to attend one of the workshops. 

Members of the faculty and staff convened in the Center Board Room at Strom Thurmond Wellness and Fitness Center for the workshop presentation. The workshop's aim is to train faculty and staff to be aware of, adhere to and enforce the alcohol and drug policies when hosting or participating in on-campus events for students. 

Delivered by SAPE Coordinator Emily Epting,  the presentation began with coverage of topics such as factors that impact substance abuse on campus and why events with alcohol are hosted. 

The presentation indicated that a combination of peer influence, advertisements and custom and traditions affects on-campus substance use. 

"Peer influence — a little bit different than peer pressure — it's about who the students are around [and] what their peer group does," Epting said. "If it involves a lot of drinking, it's more likely that they'll engage in those behaviors as well." 

Present faculty and staff were encouraged to, when hosting an event for students, move the focus away from the alcohol when promoting the event and emphasize the event itself. 

The policies outline some common areas on campus where beer and wine are permitted for those of legal drinking age. Venues not on the list can be approved through SAPE after the potential facilitator submits an approval form. The areas where beer and wine are not permitted tend to be more public areas, such as the Horseshoe. "Common source containers" such as kegs and coolers are prohibited. 

"The reason for that is that it's just easy access for anyone to come up and pour as much as they want, any time they want, so it's just harder to regulate," Epting said. 

Also in attendance and helping with the workshop was SAPE Director Aimee Hourigan, who reinforced the idea that potential facilitators should promote the event and not the alcohol. 

Hourigan said events that are specifically about alcohol, such as wine tastings, may or may not be approved. Due to concerns about students' behavior and hospitalizations, she also said that the focus of the workshop should be on what the university is doing as an environment for students. 

"The whole purpose of this process is to make sure that you guys know, as the people who are responsible for the event, what the rules and policies are and to make sure we limit liability," Hourigan said, "because in the end the goal really is, if someone is served alcohol at your event, we then hold a certain amount of liability on part of the university for what happens next to them." 

Hourigan said that those in attendance were doing the right thing by being at the workshop because it goes toward their eligibility to supervise events and make sure the policies and regulations are followed. 


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