Local fraternity members yesterday listened to Mark Usry, a law instructor at James Madison University, in Virginia, speak on fraternity liability and what party policies can be installed to decrease risk for fraternities.

Insurance premiums are high for fraternities because almost all accidents and lawsuits concerning fraternities involve underage drinking, said Usry, who is an alumnus of Sigma Nu fraternity at Oklahoma State.

Selling and furnishing alcohol to minors is illegal, which is why insurance policies will not cover any incident involving underage drinking. Problems associated with underage drinking cause insurance companies to charge higher premiums for high risk groups, particularly fraternities," Usry said.

"You can't go out and get a good murder insurance policy in case you kill someone because it's illegal, that's why you can't get insurance companies to protect a fraternity in case they give minors alcohol," Usry said.

An increase in awareness of the problems associated with underage drinking caused insurance premiums to skyrocket, Usry said. The average cost of insurance for a fraternity member for one year is $50, Usry said. However, the average cost of insurance for a sorority member for one year is $5, because sororities do not have parties in their residences, he said.

In order to lower insurance costs, fraternities began to buy group policies and set guidelines for parties to reduce liability.

By taking measures to prevent underage drinking, such as providing an alternative beverage, carding at the door and the bar, and making smaller guest lists, fraternity insurance premiums will decrease, Usry said.

However, Usry said he hopes fraternity leaders will curb alcohol abuse because they do not want any of their members or friends to get in an alcohol-related accident. Usry told the group that one of his fraternity members in college drove his car off a bridge and died because he was intoxicated.

"I hope that none of you ever have a similar experience," Usry said.

The Interfraternity Council currently has policies on a trial basis limiting parties to 300 people on the guest list or five times the number of members, whichever amount is greater. Another policy requires that all students must be marked at the door so people of drinking age can be distinguished from people who are under 21.

"Three-hundred people is way too many people to have on a guest list in my opinion," Usry said, adding that due to fire codes it is probably illegal to have more that many people in most fraternity houses.

Fraternities are legally responsible for anyone who attends their parties until they become sober, Usry said. He added that if someone under 21 left a fraternity party and got into an accident because they were drunk, the fraternity could be held responsible.

"If you provide the alcohol, then you are responsible for anything they do until they are sober," he said.

Usry said fraternities should have parties in which people bring their own beverages, which makes them not as responsible for underage drinking.

"If a fraternity throws a B.Y.O.B. party, then your insurance will cover it and you are much less likely to be sued," he said.

After the speech, most of the audience thanked Usry for talking to them about risk management policies.

"He was very informative and cleared up a lot of issues and questions we had," said Mike Murphy, a member of Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity, 524 Locust Lane.

There will be a meeting to discuss the speaker's input on risk management at 7:30 Thursday night at Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity, 351 E. Fairmount Ave., said Scott Stephan, IFC president.