A Registered Student Organization “social host” policy is requiring all organizations that are recognized by the university to abide by the “events with alcohol policy.” This requires individuals in RSOs to attend the social host training that the student involvement office conducts. This training is required for any events that have alcohol present.

The policy was rewritten last spring with the new draft was instituted in July.

If the event is being sponsored, advertised, paid for, organized, or coordinated by the organization, they are required to register the event through ShockerSync, stating that alcohol will be present and attending the social host training.

The training is a presentation that covers the state laws over alcohol, student code of conduct, risk assessment and risk management, signs for intoxication, signs of alcohol poisoning, and the blood alcohol content level. It goes over the details that social host monitors need in the event of an emergency.

Social hosts are volunteers from an RSO that monitor attendees’ alcohol use at events.

“Typically, events with alcohol tend to have a higher risk of issues that may or may not happen, so we try to provide the students with the knowledge and the resources they need in order to handle these situations should something happen,” Assistant Director for Student Involvement Gabriel Fonseca said.

Certifications are not done for groups. Individuals who plan on being sober hosts are required to certify individually, and the certification must be complete before the event.

“As part of our policy, for every 10 attendees at an event, there must be one social host in attendance,” Fonseca said. “Some events require more than one person in order to monitor the activities of the event.”

Social host monitors must retake the training after one year.

In the event that an organization had alcohol involved and did not complete the training, the office of Student Conduct and Community Standards will conduct an investigation and look for any policy violations. In the event that there are any violations, the organization will be held accountable, verify if they conducted the training, and take the training if they did not.

“For us, it’s just a normal thing, but it’s also that thing that for us to alleviate the risk of any events,” Fonseca said.

For more information, contact [email protected].