Miami Hurricane, September 19, 2013

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Raising your right wrist at the Rat is as
common as buying a pitcher of beer.
The sole on-campus bar uses wristbands on
the right hand as a system for verifying the legal
age to drink alcohol. But with its larger location
at the Student Activities Center, are underage
students less likely to get caught with alcohol?
Zoa James, a student manager at the Rat,
said that drinking alcohol is monitored and un-der
control.
“Underage drinking is not tolerated at all in
any way, shape or form,” he said. “Students who
are caught with fake IDs, we confiscate them
and turn them over to the dean of students.”
Students like junior Meghan Murphy, who
is underage, believes that a cup of beer doesn’t
justify the risk.
“It’s pretty much a known thing on campus
that you just don’t do it,” she said. “Drinking
when you’re not 21 is a huge ‘no-no’ at the Rat.”
However, some underage students are will-ing
to try, regardless of the consequences.
“I went to the Rat before fraternity ‘bid
day’ on [Sept. 6] and drank beer there from 11 to
5, and I’m only 19,” said a UM sophomore who
agreed to speak with the condition of anonym-ity.
“My friend who is 21 slipped me her wrist-band
so I didn’t get caught. But then again, it
was pretty packed and chaotic that day.”
The Rat is aware that there are some loop-holes
in the verification system. When servers
become overwhelmed, their supervisors report-edly
pulled them aside to make sure they had
everything under control.
“Sometimes it happens,” said Everett Price,
director of the Rat. “We’re very diligent about
it, but the criminals are always ahead of the
cops. When the servers are overwhelmed, we
help them out. We emphasize the importance of
IDing everyone to our staff – even if they’re 80
years old, we ID them.”
According to Price, the Rat’s staff is re-quired
to complete training every semester with
Responsible Vendors Inc., a program that trains
employees who serve alcohol. However, servers
still prove fallible.
Campus eatery stands firm
against underage drinking
BY REBECCA COHEN
SENIOR NEWS WRITER
PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY MONICA HERNDON SEE DRINKING, PAGE 2