Alcohol and Party Risk Management

Hosts

Guests

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Alcohol

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Noise

Setting

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Alcohol Overdose

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Cal can be a pressure cooker academically, so the chance to relax, kick back and have fun is essential. Parties can be great for meeting, understanding, and learning from the amazing array of people in the campus community. Alcohol may or may not be part of your parties.

There are both benefits and risks of parties and of including alcohol. They can be physical, social, emotional, legal, academic, financial, and material. The benefits and risks can be felt at individual, group, organizational, neighborhood, and wider community level. Use the risk/benefit assessment form to consider the risks and benefits from a party at which you were previously a host, guest, or neighbor. You can also use the form to assess the risks and benefits for an upcoming party you are planning or attending.

As a host, guest or neighbor, once you've assessed the risks for a party, take steps to ensure that those risks are controlled. The following tips address common party risks many of which are heightened when alcohol is involved. Since harm associated with college drinking is costly, the commitment and skills needed to reduce it is as important at college parties as it is in licensed stores, bars, and restaurants where server training is now required by law in Berkeley.

If it sounds like too much trouble to assess, plan, and perhaps even pay for risk management activities, then maybe you want to wait until circumstances are more favorable. Being a friendly person or having gone to lots of parties doesn't necessarily qualify you as a good host. While you don't have to become a "professional", it's a myth to think that good parties don't require ability, planning and practice.

Are fun and safe parties rocket science? No. We can all do it.