Stanford bans hard liquor from undergraduate parties

Stanford University is banning hard liquor at undergraduate parties on campus, in the wake of the Brock Turner sexual assault case.

The change in policy, which “goes beyond state law requirement and applies to all undergraduate and coterminal students living in undergraduate housing”, according to a statement from Stanford, was announced by the California university on Monday.

The decision comes months after former Stanford swimmer Brock Turner was sentenced to six months in jail for sexually assaulting a woman after a party.

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Greg Boardman, vice provost for student affairs, in a letter to all new and returning undergraduates, wrote: “When considering a policy, one can look at it through multiple lenses”.

Hard alcohol in the form of mixed drinks is allowed at parties hosted by student organizations, or where everyone in attendance is a graduate student. “We must create a campus community that allows for alcohol to be a part of the social lives of some of our students, but not to define the social and communal lives of all of our students”. The ban included hard alcohol that has more than 20% alcohol by volume or 40 proof.

Criticism of the policy was swift in coming, with several Twitter users pointing out that focusing on alcohol can be seen as putting the blame on the victim of rape rather than the perpetrator. His six-month sentence for the crime caused an worldwide uproar.

Turner blamed his sexual assault on Stanford’s “party culture. surrounded by binge drinking and sexual promiscuity”.

Stanford student Brianne Huntsman tweeted, “Alcohol doesn’t cause sexual assaults”.