Summer 2004

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SUNY Geneseo, Merchants and Village Sign Pact Supporting Responsible Use and Sale of Alcohol

Officials from SUNY Geneseo, local merchants and village officials signed a joint agreement in May affirming their support for the responsible sale and use of alcoholic beverages in the community.

The College, business owners and government representatives – comprising the Geneseo Campus Community Coalition – have spent the past 18 months discussing mutual concerns about the consequences of illegal and excessive consumption of alcohol, said Robert Bonfiglio, SUNY Geneseo vice president for student and campus life.

The discussions resulted in the Geneseo Campus Community Compact, which states that "…the Geneseo business community should be a place where the potential for contributing to any harmful acts such as underage drinking or excessive drinking is minimized, and where profitability is maintained."

The signing took place at the Big Tree Inn in Geneseo. President Christopher C. Dahl, Village Mayor Richard Hatheway and Karen Uhl, owner of the Statesmen, signed the pact.

Mayor Hatheway acknowledged Bonfiglio’s efforts in bringing the College and community closer together, and involving students in this particular effort. "This leads to an awareness that there is a problem, and that we need to worry about it," he said. "We need to do something about this, and this is something we are now doing together as a group."

Bonfiglio credited business leaders, community leaders and college leaders present at the ceremony as visionaries. "They all have high expectations for our community," he said. "Geneseo is a wonderful place to live and work. SUNY Geneseo is a great place to learn and grow. The visionaries here among us have hopes for an even better Geneseo."

President Dahl indicated that one of the great things about the College’s location is its relationship with the community, and the fact that it cares deeply about being a good neighbor. "We care about the kind of environment we create, in partnership with the village," he said. Uhl, owner of the Statesmen bar and restaurant, agreed. "It’s a wonderful thing for all parts of this diverse community to come together," she said. "We want to live and co-exist in a happy, healthy community. We came together and agreed on points of action that need to happen."

Last year, Geneseo received a $12,000 grant from New York state to create a campus-community coalition to address alcohol consumption. The grant was received as part of the New York State Office of Alcohol and Substance Abuse Services (OASAS) Alcohol Healthy Campus Community Demonstration Project.

The collaboration has created new dialogue among police, fraternity members, village officials, faculty and staff, Bonfiglio said. As a result of the grant, the collaborative developed a campaign aimed toward educating off-campus students how to be good neighbors and created a student patrol program similar to neighborhood watch patrols. Students went with police on calls, and the village reviewed its rental property policies.

Livingston County law enforcement officials led workshops aimed at educating local tavern staff and business owners how to better recognize false identification, confront bearers of false IDs and deal with patrons who have been drinking. The area businesses that participated in the coalition are: the Big Tree Inn, Good Spirits Wines and Liquors, Hess Mart, the Inn Between, the Idle Hour, the Statesmen, Sugar Creek Convenience Store, Valley Liquor Shop, and Wegmans.

"To me, that says something about the nature of the place," Bonfiglio said about how the community worked together to enact change.

Village Trustee Tracie Tice agreed. Members of the Geneseo community volunteered their time to address the issue, she said.

"It just has to do with everybody working together to make a better community," Tice said. "We care about the students who get dropped off in August and get picked up in May."

In signing the pact, the businesses agree to follow state law prohibiting the sale of alcohol to people under 21 years old, including ensuring all employees are trained to deal with underage drinkers and excessive alcohol consumption. In addition, the businesses will refrain from advertising on campus, the sale of plastic cups to be used off premises, and refrain from hanging banners and posters on the exterior of their businesses.

The village is agreeing to strictly enforce all laws relating to alcoholic beverages, communicate its concerns to the College and local businesses, ensure village officials are trained to increase their effectiveness in addressing the issues of underage and excessive alcohol consumption, to co-sponsor an annual workshop with the College for student tenants on tenant rights and responsibilities, and to establish a recognition program for businesses that promote a healthy community.

The College is agreeing to maintain alcohol policies that are conducive to higher learning and disseminate the alcohol policies to all students on a regular basis, to enforce its standards, provide annual training to residence hall staff on how to enforce the College’s policies, offer counseling and other support services to students so they might address the role alcohol might play in their lives, and to maintain membership in the Network of Colleges and Universities Committed to the Elimination of Drug and Alcohol Abuse, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education.

Geneseo’s program was modeled after programs at SUNY Albany, SUNY New Paltz and Syracuse University. American colleges have increasingly developed new programs to combat the increase in underage drinking. The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University reported in 2003 that 87 percent of adults drink their first alcoholic drink before age 21 and that the prevalence of lifetime alcohol abuse is greatest for those who begin drinking by age 14. The research also revealed that young females are drinking more. In 1991, 22.4 percent of 10th-grade girls and 31.4 percent of 10th-grade boys reported binge drinking, while by 1999 the girls had narrowed the gender gap to within two percentage points of their male classmates.

Geneseo has peer health counselors and ensures that alcohol issues are addressed during first-year orientation. The College also has created new programs, such as Late Knight Geneseo, to provide students a venue to socialize outside of the bar scene. In fact, one recent event at the non-alcoholic dance club – a foam party – was such a hit that the College repeated it, Bonfiglio said.

Business names signed onto the compact include the Big Tree Inn, the Geneseo Hess Mart, Good Spirits Wine and Liquor, the Idle Hour, the Inn Between, the Statesmen, Sugar Creek Convenience Store, Wegmans, and Valley Wine and Liquor. As of this writing Kelly’s Bar was slated to sign on this summer.

From left: President Christopher C. Dahl, Geneseo Mayor Richard Hatheway, Village Trustee Tracie Tice, Vice President for Student and Campus Life Robert Bonfiglio, and Statesmen owner Karen Uhl attend the May 3 signing of the Geneseo Campus Community Compact.
College and community dignitaries took their turn at the podium: Bonfiglio, Hatheway, Director of Student Health and Counseling Heidi Levine, Tice.
Good Spirits Liquor Store owner Barbara Brown conducts an interview with Matthew Daneman, reporter for the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle.
Livingston County Sheriff John York gives an interview to Bud Lowell of WXXI-1370 AM.
Photos by Ron Pretzer