Almost 50 area colleges recently met to sign the “Commitment to Collaboration.” The commitment, a three-year-plan, will be used to decrease binge drinking among college students.

For Northeastern, the plan incudes stiffening the penalties for alcohol violations, and making it a requirement for the university to sponsor activities and programs specifically meant to be social activities without alcohol.

Also included in the plan is a requirement that university presidents must speak publicly against alcohol abuse.

Past programs such as Dry Friday, Campus Wide, and Mocktails in most freshman dorms, have been used in order to promote alcohol-free activities. These programs have always had limited attendance, and the new program may help to create a bigger budget for campus sponsored alcohol free events. With a bigger budget, organizers hope the events will be able to draw a larger crowd that should be attending these events.

The new policies and plans set into place may help university officials decide once and for all whether NU is a dry campus or not. Currently, the university’s policies seem hypocritical; sponsoring Dry Friday, but yet having a lenient alcohol policy and a liquor license for university events.

With the new plan in place, incoming freshmen and current students will be able to notice that binge drinking is not something everyone takes part in, and there are other social activities.