"My sense was that the students though [the statement] was not going to have much of an effect at all," Nelson said. "the general opinion was that this was very cosmetic."

Council President Beth A. Stewart '00, who was at the meeting of the COCL, agreed with Nelson's assessment.

"I think the University wants to discuss [alcohol policy] more and make students more aware of statistics regarding alcohol abuse, but I don't foresee any significant change in the alcohol policy," Stewart said.

Stewart added that College administrators recognized the dangers of associating any potential punitive action with the statement.

"I don't think this is going to result in any kind of punitive policy because the University realizes that if punitive measures increase, then the likelihood of [students] taking a sick friend to UHS decreases," Stewart said.

However, Epps was careful to point out that the statement will not revolve solely around alcohol, but will include potential problems associated with drug abuse or eating disorders, among others.

With regards to alcohol, Epps said the College has specific plans to reduce the likelihood of on-campus alcohol abuse.

"Half of the events at the college are non-alcoholic, and we want to support that," Epps said. "We will probably get funds to support that."

Epps added that events where alcohol is served are not nearly as much of a problems as events where alcohol consumption is the main focus, citing certain athletic initiations a specific examples.

"Our problems are practices where alcohol is an integral part of the socializing," Epps said