What would a State College bar be like without bouncers?

You could imagine how things might get a little out of hand without doorstaff or waitstaff keeping an eye on boozing students.

At many fraternity parties, few house members are able to truly watch guests just as bouncers do at bars -- or when they do, they might be unsure of how to react to a bad situation.

That's why the new Training for Intervention ProcedureS (TIPS) program for fraternities has potential to improve the greek community.

The TIPS sessions, which began this weekend, include discussion and other activities on how to recognize when someone is intoxicated and who is liable for alcohol-related incidents.

But this program has a downside, as people who complete TIPS must truly act as bouncers and not resort to physical violence. The participants will need to take this seriously for it to work.

Also, police and bouncers are known to have certain relationships in which the doorstaff are given leeway in handling intoxicated patrons until officers arrive. It's unlikely that police would give fraternity members this leeway, and so they should not act as if they have this leeway.

To continue with this comparison, bouncers are not allowed to drink alcohol while working.

If certain fraternity members are to be designated as watching for overly-intoxicated guests or improper behavior, they should not be permitted to be drunk either so they can act logically.

Guests will also need to respect the fraternity members. Bar patrons respect bouncers because they know staff members have a certain level of authority and can detain unruly customers until police arrive.

This level of respect may not exist with those in the greek community, but it may not be necessarily the case.

This level of respect may stem from the bouncers' relationship with the police, and fraternities do not have this connection of authority.

The TIPS program could be a beneficial way for fraternities to be responsible and handle guests appropriately while preventing parties from getting out of control. It's a responsible thing for the fraternities to do. Everybody in the community knows that drinking occurs at fraternity houses. This training is a good way to try to curb dangerous situations at fraternity parties.

We just need to make sure that fraternity members who complete this training also don't get out of control, and take their positions to curb potential dangers seriously.