Music, dancing and alcohol may leap to the typical university student's mind as standard elements of college parties. At Duke University, however, students in bright orange T-shirts designated as "party monitors" have become regulars at these social events as well.
Party monitors are students who have completed specialized training and are certified Emergency Medical Service Workers. Their responsibilities include the prevention of alcohol policy violations, intervention and care of inebriated at-risk individuals, and elimination of safety hazards. One party monitor must be present for every 25 guests at on-campus parties where alcohol is being served.
"The expectation of the party monitors is that they are going to maintain overall safety, monitor security issues, and when they see a student who needs help they will step in and assist that student," said Suzanne Wasiolek, Duke assistant vice president of student affairs.
Student groups, including fraternities, hosting on-campus parties with alcohol must provide trained members of their group and then require them to serve as the party monitors. Those students fulfilling this role are not allowed to consume any alcohol at the party or in the 24 hours prior to the party.
Duke student Lee Falls oversees the party monitors for his fraternity, Kappa Alpha. Falls said the party monitors have not reduced the number of students at the parties, but can dampen the fun for those who serve as monitors.
"Since monitors are required to stay sober for 24 hours before the party and since we have to have one monitor for every 25 people, it ruins the good time for the fraternity brothers at parties where over half the brothers then have to serve as monitors," Falls said.
While the fun for some may have decreased at parties, Duke officials said alcohol problems also have declined.
"As of Oct. 1 we have had a 40 percent decrease in the number of students taken to the emergency room because of alcohol problems," Wasiolek said.
Duke Assistant Dean of Student Development Stephen Bryan said the campus has been "calmer, and students are making more responsible choices" since last year.
"Students are still drinking under age, but we have not seen the secondary effects as much this year as in years past," Bryan said.
Still, the decrease in alcohol problems cannot be linked directly to the party monitors, Bryan and Wasiolek said. Such results could come from a number of initiatives taken this semester by Duke to combat alcohol abuse among students, including increased education and sponsoring more alcohol-free events.
The Dean of Students Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life at the University as well as the Inter-Fraternity Council also have sought to decrease problems with parties. Recently, the IFC passed a resolution prohibiting non-Greek organizations from renting out fraternity houses.
But the University has no plans in the future to create a system of party monitors like those at Duke.
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