On Nov. 19, the City Council approved a “social host” ordinance, which prosecutes adults who permit social events with more than four teens in their home when alcohol is present. The ordinance does not include parent-supervised underage drinking for religious purposes.

Even though providing alcohol to anyone under 21 is already illegal, police officers said that this law lets them prosecute adults even when there is no evidence that the adults provided the alcohol directly. Adults prosecuted for hosting social events will now have to pay a $250 minimum civil fine.

In 2006, Lisa Swagerty, a third-grade teacher at Palo Verde Elementary School, and her husband hosted a social event involving alcohol at their home for approximately 75 teenagers. Although police cited the parents with a misdemeanor charge and fined them $1,000 each for contributing to the delinquency of minors, the incident prompted the Police Department was motivated to create the “social host” ordinance.

According to the Palo Alto Weekly, eight out of nine City Council members supported the ordinance while the ninth member, Peter Drekmeier, abstained. “If the hosts are the teenager’s parents and family, there is no intent to stop that gathering,” City Council member Bern Beecham said. “It’s when it’s not their parents. That is not the way to learn how to handle yourself.”

Principal Noreen Likins supports the ordinance. “It will encourage people to think twice,” Likins said. “Drinking is more dangerous than people believe it to be.”

Palo Alto Drug and Alcohol Community Collaborative (PADACC) member and Dean of Students Christine Wang agreed. “The latest research on brain development shows the adverse impact alcohol consumption has on the brain,” Wang said. “Underage drinking causes damage to developing brains, whether they are at home or at some random party.”

Others are less supportive. “I honestly don’t think there’s a real reason for it,” senior Davis Kingsley said. Junior Yvonne Yeh said it is safest to drink under parent supervision. “I think that teenagers’ judgments aren’t as good as adults’,” she said. “At a party where the parents are present, they will treat their kids in a different way than people at a random party would treat them. But overall, it doesn’t really affect me personally.”