'Quaker bouncers' keep parties in line

Parent Cafe
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<p><a href=“http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/16722825.htm[/url]”>http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/16722825.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>‘Quaker bouncers’ keep parties in line</p>

<p>This is an article from today’s Philadelphia Inquirer about “student bouncers” at Haverford, Bryn Mawr, Swarthmore, and Penn. These student groups monitor drinking and other behavior at parties, assist students in need, and call for professional help if needed. I guess it is good that they do this, but it is a shame that problems with students overindulging is so common that there is a need for this on a routine basis.</p>

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<p>I live 1 mile from Swat, about 9 miles from Haverford & Bryn Mawr and I can tell you that even these smaller religious-inspired schools like Swat and Haverford have problems with alcohol. You just don’t hear about it as often because the problem is on a much smaller scale than larger schools like Villanova and Penn. </p>

<p>Unfortunately, our nearby high schools have just as big if not bigger of the same problem. It’s rare I don’t see a half-drunk case of beer abandoned at the side of the road on Sunday morning.</p>

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<p>That has to be a tough job for the students. Kudos to them for taking it on.</p>

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<p>FWIW, I don’t think you can call Haverford, Bryn Mawr or Swarthmore “religious- inspired schools”.</p>

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<p>It goes beyond that. Swarthmore started their Party Associates system in 1995, so they’ve had more than a decade of experience with it.</p>

<p>Whenever you have a party with several hundred people, you want a designated group of people keeping an eye on things. The PAs are there to do just that. They have to make sure that food and non-alcoholic beverages are available at any party where alcohol is served. They have to check IDs at the door to keep local high school kids and other gate crashers out of the parties. They remove students who are causing trouble, and so forth.</p>

<p>As far as I can tell, it’s been an effective system.</p>

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<p>nngmm: I wouldn’t call Bryn Mawr “religiously inspired,” but you’re somewhat wrong about Swarthmore and Haverford. Certainly both have a majority of students, faculty and administrators who are not Quakers, but there are a lot of Quakers there, and both schools take their Quakerism seriously, both as a heritage and as part of their day-to-day makeup. In fact, if you read the article, the whole structure of the student-bouncer institution at Haverford grew out of discussions about what was the Quaker way to maintain order.</p>