On Wednesday, April 12, 2017, the UHS PartySafe Program celebrated its third annual PartySafe Awards recognizing individuals, groups, and departments that have been highly effective in building safer alcohol and party practices at UC Berkeley.
PartySafe is a Health Promotion program that collaborates with a wide variety of campus and community partners to reduce alcohol-related harm. The awards celebration was held from 4:30-6 pm at the Bear's Lair and was facilitated by PartySafe coordinator Karen Hughes. View the full photo album.
Meet this year's awardees:
| Award | Awardee(s) | About |
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Avoid Trouble: Respect community policies and expectations. |
EJ Morera & Eric Berger | As IFC Risk Manager and President, EJ and Eric have continued the risk management efforts set by their predecessors. Jumping right on the ball in January, both have been active in the CERC Student Risk Subcommittee, Happy Neighbors, and F8 meetings. Moreover, they have developed the Standard Operating Protocol and mandated consent talks, creating agreed-upon community expectations for all registered IFC events. They’ve also worked successfully to get a single security vendor for those events. For Cal Day they required all chapters who wished to host an event to participate in the PartySafe Hydration Consultation. In a historically high-risk facet of Cal’s party culture, these two have made a difference in improving Greek party culture, which is why we think EJ and Eric deserve the Avoid Trouble award for their efforts in garnering respect for community policies and expectations. |
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Keep it Social Not Slurred: Control the alcohol. |
Chi Psi |
Water, water, everywhere - let’s all have a drink. This semester, PartySafe initiated a new party hydration effort - with support from Brita - to promote increased visibility and improve the perception of water at events serving alcohol. As part of the pilot effort, a few IFC chapters participated in a party consultation that focused on hydration stations, then invited the Hydration Hype Squad to one of their events - utilizing additional water supplies that lit up the hydration station and party giveaways that drew the attention of the party guests. A Hype Squad favorite was the event at Chi Psi. Party hosts supported the efforts of the Hype Squad which directly affected the response from the party guests - supporting party practices that PartySafe endorses for helping party-goers and throwers alike. Having accessible water is a key practice to controlling the alcohol and keeping their events social and not slurred. |
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Don’t Let Small Problems Become Big: See something. Do something. |
Jon Jay & Lubna Sebastien | Jon is the current CalGreeks Alcohol Taskforce (CAT) president and is believed to be the most enthusiastic person about risk management. Lubna is a CAT Agent. These two were the most vibrant presenters at the Spring Bear Pact and are both truly passionate about not letting small problems become big. Since the revitalization of CAT, they’ve created new metrics, incorporated innovative risk management practices, like requiring submissions of event schematics, and rebranding the perception of CAT overall - expanding the team from 3 agents last year to 20, on an application basis only - resulting in more cooperation and compliance from the participating houses. In addition, they are active in the PartySafe efforts like the Student Alcohol Roundtable and the Hydration Hype Squad and have big plans for the rest of the year to continue improving the Cal party culture. |
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Get the Good Without the Bad: Make a plan and stick to it. |
ASUC Senator Jenny Kim & Anisha Makhija, President of the Student Mental Health Coalition |
This award is shared by these wonderful folks who illustrate the breadth and depth of effort needed to engage, educate, and empower students across campus communities. PartySafe particularly appreciated participating in these two well-organized, multi-issue community events: Safety Week (November 14-18) and Fresh Check Day on February 22. Fresh Check, organized by ASUC Senator Jenny Kim and Anisha Makhija, President of the Student Mental Health Coalition, offered students a fun, interactive event with an informative survey of all the mental health and wellness resources available on campus and centralized leaders in our community who are working for student well-being. We enjoyed this opportunity for education and on-the-ground work with the student body. Fun Fact: College alcohol harm reduction research shows that students engage most effectively when alcohol information is integrated with overall wellness and safety approaches, which is exactly what both of these events did. They made a plan and stuck to it - for students to get the good without the bad. |
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Get the Good Without the Bad: Make a plan and stick to it. |
ASUC Senator Bianca Filart & Kate Gibson, Executive Vice President of CalGreeks Alcohol Taskforce (CAT) | In November, ASUC Senator Bianca Filart and Kate Gibson, Executive Vice President of CalGreeks Alcohol Taskforce (CAT), and one of Bianca’s staff, coordinated a whole week of events and outreach opportunities on Sproul. They provided different safety-related materials, activities, and free stuff, with each day having a slightly different theme. In addition, Bianca and Kate also presented at last Fall’s Bear Pact and have been active participants in the CERC Student Risk Subcommittee and the First 8, continuing to promote student safety through campus partnerships. |
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Be Yourself: Don’t assume or overestimate how much others drink. |
Zach Gamlieli and Sahar Priano | Zach is the VP of External Affairs for the Berkeley Student Coop and Sahar is the BSC Consent Working Group Coord. The BSC has been an ongoing partner with PartySafe in many facets. As one of the innovators of the consent talks, they exhibited the meaning of community by collaborating and sharing their learned best practices with the Greek community, including a demo and discussion at one Student Alcohol Roundtable. Now the IFC has included the model of consent talks in their Standard Operating Procedures to be communicated at all registered events. Zach is always at the table, representing the BSC, in alcohol education and harm reduction as well as in partnership with Happy Neighbors and other student/neighbor relations issues. |