U-Va. Takes Aim at Alcohol-Based Tradition

By Alan Sipress

Washington Post Staff Writer

Charlottesville Nov. 14---One measure of how daunting it is to uproot drinking traditions at the University of Virginia Came early today, on the morning of the Cavaliers' Final home game of the season.

About 360 students participated in a 5K run organized as an alternative to the ritual "fourth-year fifth," when some seniors drink a fifth of liquor to mark the end of their fourth home season. But when Leah Friedman, senior class president, asked runners at the finish line to sign a card pledging to forgo binge drinking for the day, about a dozen demurred.

"They were running the 5K and going home to do the fourth-year fifth," Friedman said.

Today was the culmination of a week-long campaign by university officials and students to curtail alcohol consumption This drive was a part of a wider effort sponsored by the university in the wake of the alcohol related deaths of 18 university students since 1990, including a Reston honor student, Leslie Baltz, who died a year ago from falling down a flight of steps after an afternoon of heavy drinking.

Many students said they expected fewer seniors to attempt the fourth-year fifth ritual - the equivalent of drinking nearly 20 shots but alcohol continued to play a prominent role today in the windup to the much ballyhooed showdown with rival University of North Carolina.

"I know some who are going to do a fourth-year pint or a fourth-year six-pack to celebrate the last football game, but it's not the same excess as in the past," said senior Gavin Sacks, 20, at a picnic shortly before the 3:30 p.m. kickoff.

His classmate Jack Richards, 21, paused between gulps of a beer and agreed that mounting pressure from students had reduced the appeal of the fifth. 'In the past, it was seen as a civic responsibility to do the fourth-year fifth or help someone else's along," he said.

The university drive last week against excessive drinking included a series of talks and seminars, most notably a moving speech by Leslie Baltz's mother, Vivian Baltz.

"What I say to you is in all honesty unchanged from what I said to my daughters," Baltz told more than 300 students Thursday. "But it is sadly more informed now. which is, if you drink. do so responsibly. Understand the risks that have become so tragically known."

Similar themes were sounded by members of the inter-fraternity council and senior class officers. One day before the game, the battle was joined by the student newspaper, the Cavalier Daily, which urged seniors in an editorial not to engage in "an incredibly stupid tradition."

Friedman, who hoped to gain signatures of at least two-thirds of the 3,000 seniors on pledge cards, found the effort difficult. By game time, about 750 seniors had signed.

"I've seen a lot of students turn me down for pledge cards. I've had many students tell me it's only 17 shots," said Friedman, 21, who noted she probably had not drunk 17 shots in her entire life.

She said the unprecedented pledge drive would help foster a climate to counter the traditional peer pressure to drink. Among those who signed was senior Tia Butler, 21, who said: "It's a stupid tradition. If the death of that girl last year wasn't a wake-up call to start drinking responsibly, I don't know what would be."

Right up to game time, Friedman and her team staffed a table at an alcohol-free picnic. The pizza was hot and the jazz quartet was cool, but the turnout was light, especially compared with the number of students descending on nearby Scott Stadium. many with cups of beer in their hands.

The drinking began earlier in the day. Before noon, students wandered Charlottesville streets with beer and punch in hand. At one fraternity along the row of brick Greek houses on Rugby Road, the brothers had already broken out the beer, brut they said that many fraternity members had agreed not to attempt the fifth.

Tradition is mainly the reason people do it. We have a reason to break tradition. We could lose our house and lose our charter," said senior Matt O'Neill, 21, standing on the fraternity's porch with a large plastic cup.

O'Neill and several of his fraternity brothers said alumni send the wrong signal by recalling with nostalgia the days when they conquered the fourth- year fifth.

"They're laughing about it and that it's the tradition," said senior Dan Mattock, 21. "People want to be part of the tradition."

The parking lots surrounding Scott Stadium were teeming today with tailgating alumni and adult fans. Their foldout tables were heavy with roast beef, potato salad and vegetables -- and with Miller, Coors and bottles of bourbon and gin.

A panel of students, professors and administrators recommended last winter that liquor be banned at tailgate parties, but university officials opposed the ban, which would have ended a practice cherished by alumni.

Instead, police limit alcohol at tailgate parties to sections of the parking lot open only to members of the Virginia Student Aid Foundation, the university booster club and their guests, said Mike Sheffield, chief of the university police.

University Police Capt. Purcell McCue said early this evening that police removed several students from the stadium because of alcohol-related disturbances, but saw no indication that drinking was causing any more disruption than at other games this season.

People have understood." Sheffield said. "It's a big change. We don't see the public intoxication we've seen in years past."

Later on, campus police shut down what they said was an unauthorized party, held in an academic building that was leased to ail alumni group. They said one student was arrested on a charge of being drunk in public in connection with the party.