Small groups of students on the Row will be able to drink beer, wine and malt liquor this fall during New Student Orientation, or NSO, University officials announced last week.

Hard alcohol will still be off-limits in common areas — even on the Row — under the new policy, and the changes will be on a one-year trial basis. Whether the changes become permanent depends on the behavior of students this fall.

“The responsibility is now placed on students,” said Ralph Castro, an alcohol and drug educator at Vaden Health Center. “Students are the caretakers of this privilege. If there are violations this year, it will be revoked.”

Previously, alcohol policy banned consumption of alcohol in common spaces in University housing during NSO. Students living on the Row last September could not check into their residences unless they signed a document agreeing that they would not host any “formal or informal house gathering where alcohol is served” and that they would not serve or provide alcohol to new students.

Senior Andrew Waxman, a resident assistant in Haus Mitteleuropa, said the loosening of the policy came after resident assistants on the Row expressed reservations about the effect the ban was having on RA-resident relationships.

“The interpretation of the Row staff was that we should avoid having alcohol in any open spaces in residences,” Waxman said. “It was challenging during that period for Row RAs to try to maintain dry hallways.”

He added that the policy resulted in frustration among residents and an awkward beginning to the year.

Waxman led the drive to change the policy, meeting with the University’s Alcohol Advisory Board in January and consulting with Castro and others to submit a revised trial policy to Greg Boardman, interim dean of student affairs.

“This was a wonderful example of how students brought an issue to the Alcohol Advisory Board, had exhaustive discussions and came to a consensus,” Castro said.

The new policy, however, still places limits on drinking during NSO. For example, the old policy remains in effect for all upperclass residences not on the Row.

Castro said the changes apply only to the Row because upperclassmen have traditionally been allowed to move in six to seven nights before classes start, much earlier than other dorms on campus. Subjecting Row residents, many of whom are over the legal drinking age, to a completely dry week when the social life of residences begins to gear up was unreasonable, he added.

Under the new rules, administrators expect drinking to occur on a small scale on the Row during NSO, Castro added.

“It’s not a party. It’s not an event. It’s a social gathering,” he said. “We don’t want to hear ‘Oh cool, we can have a rager in Bob.’ No, you can’t. This is meant to be a chance for students to catch up, talk about their trip to Chile over the summer and enjoy a few drinks.”

In a written statement to The Daily, Director of Residential Education Jane Camarillo stressed the importance of student behavior under the new guidelines.

“We take this step cautiously to insure that students appreciate the responsibility that comes with such a privilege,” she said. “We still expect that any service of alcohol will be done lawfully and responsibly, with students themselves prepared to take action to prevent any possible abuses or threats to student or community safety.”