This year’s birthday books, which local vendors use to prevent underage drinking, will be a little less specific than in years past.
The birthday book is a list of student names and birthday information, created and given out by DePauw University to all businesses in Greencastle that sell alcohol. Originally, the birthday books contained a student’s full name and their exact birth date, but because of the student government legislation passed, the books now only contain the name, birth month and year.
The birthday books have existed for more than ten years so far, and work to curb underaged drinking. “The birthday books were started in order to make sure that only students who are twenty one and older are purchasing alcohol,” Halffied said, “They do that for a lot of reasons, and the biggest one is ensuring student safety.”
During the 2015-2016 academic year, DePauw Student Government proposed legislation to limit the information given out in the birthday books. This legislation was passed by Casey’s administration during the spring semester and implemented over the summer.
However, student government was just informed of the change several weeks after the start of this semester.
The purpose of the books is to prevent underage students from buying alcohol with fake identification. The books are found in all bars and restaurants that sell alcohol in Greencastle, including all liquor stores, Kroger and Walmart.
The reduced information in the books came about as a result of student concerns about private information. “It’s a problem because people would be able to use your name and your birthdate to unlock other information about you,” said Student Body President, Claire Halffield.
Birthdates and full names are sometime used by companies or doctors as a way confirming a person’s identity. “It’s really scary to think that your full name and full date of birth are the things that were on this book,” Halffield said.
Student government is happy they were able to have some influence in the change to the books, but there are still some issues left to be addressed. “It’s something that is pretty nice, but of course it is still troubling that there are these books, and we wish there were other ways that the University could address underage drinking” Halffield said, “But at the same time it’s good they changed the specific information so students feel more comfortable.”
Some students still feel that the information given out is too much and wish that the books did not exist. “I think it’s an invasion of privacy from the University,” said sophomore Joshua Selke, “I think it is inappropriate that the University would give out private information from students, specifically those of marginalized identities who don’t feel safe with people in Greencastle having certain information about them.”
The University feels the birthday books help vendors prevent students from using fake identification in their businesses. “Anecdotally, we do receive a lot of information from our very near vendors when they confiscate IDs and that they have crossed referenced them with the Birthday book,” said Angie Nally, director of Public Safety, “I think our vendors very much appreciate the birthday book because it is so easy to get a fake identification in this day and age that lots and lots of people have them.”
The birthday books are still being changed and worked on by the Administration. “Honestly I think there have been other steps taken since the DSG letter that make it work so I think it’s probably fine,” said President Mark McCoy.
However, there has been some criticism in regards to how effective these books can truly be. “One thing that it does neglect is anyone who chooses to go to a house party and drink alcohol, obviously there’s not someone there with a birthday book standing at the door,” Halffield said.
In addition, these books have caused problems for some students and some Greencastle residents. Some students of legal age have trouble purchasing their alcohol if the clerk is not able to find their name. Greencastle residents who are near college age, but do not attend DePauw, have difficulty purchasing alcohol because clerks believe they are students, but are unable to find them in the book.
One change people also hope to see implemented is better training for spotting fake identification. “I don’t think that fake ID’s are very prevalent on our campus,” Halffield said, “I would like to see more training so bouncers can more easily spot fake ID’s rather than having to pull out a book.”