In looking at trends re alcoholic drink I start with my campus
newspaper.  The Miami Student, 25 March, has a front page article
reporting that two international fraternities announced a new alcohol
policy for all chapters on 17 March.  "The plan is to be alcohol-free
by the year 2000."  The fraternities are Phi Delta Theta and Sigma
Nu.  Phil Delta Theta, headquartered in Oxford, Ohio, offers
financial incentitves for chapters which ban alcohol sooner.  The
hope is that a quarter of chapters will do so each year prior to
2000.  All new chapters must start with an alcohol ban.  Chapters not
banning alcohol by the year 2000 will lose their charters.  Eleven
chapters banned alcohol in 1995.  The president of the international
fratnerity Robert Deloian was quoted as saying "we are losing our
purpose" as a result of the identification with drinking.  Apparently
liability is another  less altruistic motive for the change in policy.
According to the article an insurance organizaqtion ranked
fraternities and sorities as sixth in the top thirty liability risks.  By
the way, the president of Miami's Alpha chapter was unenthusiastic
about the new policy.  "The chapter is opposed to it because it says
that [even] if you're 21 you can't drink in your home."
 
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David M. Fahey
History Department
Miami University
Oxford, OH 45056-1618, USA
tel. 513-529-5134
FAX 513-529-3224
e-mail: <[log in to unmask]>