wfn.org | Campus coalition offers sober alternatives on party weekend

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG>]

May 17, 1999 News media contact: Linda Green*(615)742-5470*Nashville, Tenn.
10-71B{275}

By Matthew Oates*

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (UMNS) -- When Amy Pritchard and the Wesley Foundation
at Purdue University throw a party, they know how to throw a party.
    
Pritchard, a junior at the school and a member of Calvary United Methodist
Church in Syracuse, Ind., and the Wesley Foundation were hosts for more than
150 students who chose to celebrate the end of the school year in an
alcohol- and drug-free environment during Purdue's Grand Prix weekend held
the weekend of April 24.
    
Grand Prix weekend falls during the last week of spring semester classes and
finals. The celebration, which has been in existence for 25 years, is marked
by the annual Grand Prix 50-mile go-cart race to raise scholarship money.
However, in past years, the weekend has been known more for its
alcohol-related arrest rates than the annual race.
    
Last year, 355 people were arrested for public intoxication, underage
drinking or other alcohol- related charges. This year, 237 people were
arrested by area police agencies.
    
Pritchard and the Rev. Steve Cain, campus minister at the Wesley Foundation,
decided to do something about students' alcohol use and to offer
alternatives during the party weekend.  
    
Along with a coalition of student groups, they helped create the Grand
Alternative, a series of weeklong events and programs that offer students a
chance to celebrate the end of the semester in a safe and sober way. The
Wesley Foundation is the campus ministry of the North Indiana Annual
(regional) Conference.
   
Cain developed the concept for alcohol-free programs during Grand Prix after
leaving a 6 a.m. prayer vigil and noticing hundreds of students lined up
outside area bars for what is commonly called "Breakfast Club." 

Cain realized, through counseling adolescents in a 50-mile radius of Purdue,
that many high school-age people were looking at Purdue's Grand Prix weekend
as an opportunity to get into trouble, drink and party. 

"I began to see a culture of permissivity far more dangerous than many
realize, certainly more dangerous and destructive of human lives than the
few cults on this Big Ten campus," Cain said. Some Grand Prix weekends have
been marked by student deaths, he added.

Cain perceived that the drug- and alcohol-related issues on Big Ten campuses
result from "a lack of alternatives and a culture of permissivity followed
up by strict enforcement of the law."

The idea for an alternative weekend was expanded and put into action when
Pritchard approached Cain about having an event that would promote Christian
unity during the 1998 Grand Prix festivities. Numerous contributions,
beginning with a $4,000 grant from the Coalition for a Drug-Free Tippecanoe
County, were received from churches, coalitions, agencies, organizations and
associations to make this year's event a reality.

The inaugural "Jesus Party" was the forerunner to this year's Grand
Alternative.
    
The grant was used to offer a free breakfast and two concerts over the
weekend. More than 500 free T-shirts were distributed, and the hours for the
student recreation center were expanded. "They had 70-some people doing
aerobics at 10 o'clock at night," Pritchard said.
    
The goal of the events is to offer alternative events to students who have
decided not to drink, especially at the end of the semester. "Everyone needs
an outlet," she said
   
 The numbers for a first-year program are always a starting point. For the
free biscuit and gravy breakfast, more than 50 students filled their
stomachs with a substance other than alcohol, Pritchard said.
    
At the Jesus Party, more than 150 students praised God and listened to
Lafayette, Ind.,-area bands and also played pool, Ping-Pong and other games.
The weekend ended on a high note as Chicago-based contemporary Christian
band Daniel's Window performed during the foundation's Sunday afternoon
worship service.
    
Many students told Pritchard the party was great and they couldn't wait for
next year's activities. "It was a great starting place for people to begin
to understand the vast opportunities that exist on this campus for
alcohol-free events," she said.
    
There will be changes in the 2000 Grand Alternative. Instead of a week
filled with events, Pritchard is going to concentrate on the days that
students do most of their drinking: Thursday, Friday and Saturday. The plans
also include getting more area churches, not only United Methodist but also
other denominations and faiths, involved with the Grand Alternative. 
    
"It was significant for the campus," Cain said. The significance came from
students and student organizations saying they would not allow a good
celebration and weekend to be taken over by alcohol, he said. 

The alternative weekend seemed to have an impact. Police reports indicated
that the number of arrests at the university were reduced 33 percent. Cain
said the Wesley Foundation hopes that more of the 676 student groups on
campus will take the weekend for the "wholesome, healthy celebration that it
was in the beginning."

 # # #

*Oates is a senior at Purdue University, communications team leader at the
Wesley Foundation and a member of University Heights United Methodist Church
in Indianapolis.

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