The North American Interfraternity Conference (NIC) is requiring its 6,100 fraternity chapters — including 10 of the 11 chapters on Stanford’s Inter-Fraternity Council — to ban hard alcohol from fraternity facilities and events by Sept. 1, 2019. The decision was made through a near-unanimous vote in the NIC’s annual meeting on Aug. 27.

The ban’s effects on Stanford’s policies have not yet been determined.

As of now, Stanford’s student alcohol policy prohibits hard alcohol from registered all-campus parties. It also prohibits containers 750 ml and larger of hard alcohol in undergraduate student residences, including fraternity houses. Smaller containers are permitted for residents 21 and older, so long as they are stored in the original bottle.

University spokesperson E.J. Miranda said that Stanford is aware of the NIC’s decision.

“Fraternity and Sorority Life and the Office of Alcohol Policy and Education are in conversation with the leadership of the Inter-Fraternity Council, and expect to address the NIC resolution with all Greek student leaders when they return to campus at the end of September,” Miranda wrote in an email to The Daily.

Four Greek leaders declined to comment on the matter when contacted by The Daily.

Though the resolution came shortly before a shift in Residential Education’s enforcement of alcohol policies, Miranda asserted that these changes and the NIC’s decision are “totally separate and distinct issues.”

He did, however, emphasize the University’s concern surrounding “high-risk” behaviors.

“Fraternity and Sorority Life and the Office of Alcohol Policy and Education are supportive of policies and actions that reduce harmful behaviors, particularly those involving high-risk alcohol consumption,” Miranda wrote.

 

Contact Julia Ingram at jmingram ‘at’ stanford.edu.