A recent rise in violence near Alpha Drive has spurred the second fraternity alcohol ban in a year.
The Inter-Fraternity Council executive board, the governing body of all "traditional fraternities" on campus, decided Tuesday to ban alcohol until March 24 in all the fraternity houses on Alpha Drive, a council spokesman said.
The fraternity houses along Alpha Drive, the street just north of campus, are enforcing the ban in response to a recent upswing in violence near the houses, the spokesman said.
During the alcohol hiatus, the council will work with ASU to improve safety, said Dave Breitman, the IFC vice-president of public relations.
"The IFC executive board will be examining Alpha Drive so that we can better make it safe for those who live on it," Breitman said.
In the most recent violent incident, a man was stabbed in the chest by an unidentified attacker early Sunday morning, The State Press reported Monday. His wounds were not life threatening, Sgt. Mike Horn of Tempe Police said Monday.
The altercation occurred on University Drive near McAllister Avenue after the victim, a fraternity member, left a party at another fraternity house on Alpha Drive, the council spokesman said.
ASU spokeswoman Leah Hardesty said a similar alcohol ban that went from February to May 2006 resulted in a new alcohol policy for all student organizations.
After the dry period last year, ASU officials announced a new policy that required, among other stipulations, that a third party vendor be present whenever alcohol was available and that the guest-to-member ratio be no more than 3-to-1.
Biotechnology junior Seth Wasserstrom, an Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity member, said last year's ban was strict up to a point.
"It was, 'Don't see, don't tell.' If everything was in the rooms or behind closed doors, nobody got in trouble," he said.
But he said the ban also increased drinking and driving - at least in his fraternity.
"Last year no one was allowed to drink in the houses so there were more people going out to Scottsdale," he said. "Once they go to Scottsdale, that's out of our control."
Hardesty said ASU police have not seen a rise in alcohol-related incidents since the policy change.
But after last week's assault, the fraternities are looking at the alcohol policy again, the council spokesman said.
The IFC will look into hiring a security force as a possible solution to the safety issues on Alpha Drive, the spokesman added.
"ASU police do not provide much for us," he said.
Problems occur outside the fraternity houses much more often than inside, Wasserstrom said.
"I don't feel like bad stuff happens inside, it's much more outside the houses," he said. "People have been jumped, people have been spat on and cars have been damaged."
Both ASU and Tempe police patrol Alpha Drive, Hardesty said.
"They can [hire a security service] if they want as long as they contact ASU police and tell them that they hired private security," Hardesty added.
Reach the reporter at: john.dougherty@asu.edu.
