Jones Sent Me

Throughout its history the University of Michigan has had a ban on drinking in fraternity houses and dormitories. But any group of Michigan students determined to throw a bottle party in their quarters could think of dozens of speakeasy tricks to foil the campus cops.

One fraternity house sometimes uses a double-doorbell system. Invited guests press the concealed one; the uninvited set off an alarm signal when they push the other. Another clubhouse is wired with trip cords; if an intruder steps on one, all the lights in the house go out. Still another keeps one brother bartending in the basement. In case of an inspection, the bartender is supposed to sweep his bottles into a suitcase and exit by a back door.

This spring, some tipplers got a trifle careless: they started throwing empty bottles out the windows. The administration decided to clean up. First, the university's special police raided a beer party at the Deke house, and the chapter house was ordered closed from June 15 to next February. Then, the cops attended the Sigma Phi spring formal, nabbed ten couples (of the 50 couples at the dance) drinking white wine in the basement.

That rocked the campus. Cried the undergraduate Michigan Daily: "The atmosphere of a Gilbert and Sullivan opera mixed with Keystone cops . . ." The Daily wanted the dry law repealed.

The university thought otherwise. Last week, it put the Sigma Phis on social probation, fined them $500.

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