COM still weighing options for profs.

The College of Communication has confirmed reports of two professors allowing students to drink beer in class and is still deciding how to deal with the lecturers who violated university policy and may have broken state law, the school's dean said yesterday.

Interim dean Tobe Berkovitz said an investigation into whether advertising instructors Lawrence DeLamarter and Dave Schaefer allowed students to drink in class has not been finalized, nor has a decision about retaining the professors been reached. He said neither professor has indicated he will resign.

"I know that drinking did take place in that class, and I'm going to leave it at that," he said.

Both sections of the Advertising Copy and Design class DeLamarter and Schaefer teach were canceled before Thanksgiving break after allegations surfaced that a beer advertising campaign the students were working on resulted in the teachers allowing students to drink without checking identifications. Berkovitz said alcohol consumption in the 400-level class has not been denied, but he does not know if any underage students drank.

DeLamarter told The Daily Free Press on Nov. 15 that no underage students drank beer.

Berkovitz said after reviewing the situation "as a whole," COM has not sought the professors' resignation for this semester.

Canceling the course was never an option, Berkovitz said. He said the university would have found alternatives for students to complete the course this semester if the professors had left Boston University.

Berkovitz said he is more concerned with possible professor misdeeds than underage drinking. The ages of students in the class can easily be determined through university records. If underage students did drink in class, more serious consequences will be levied for the professors who would have broken Massachusetts laws, he said.

Drinking in a university public space -- even during official events for those of age -- is not permitted without explicit university approval, Berkovitz said.

Students have said the professors have assigned the beer project in the past and drinking had been allowed in previous years. Berkovitz -- who was informed of the incident by Dean of Students Kenneth Elmore -- said he had not been aware of drinking in the classes prior to this incident.

Berkovitz said he has not been approached by students in the two sections regarding the incident.

DeLamarter declined comment when reached by phone last night. Phone messages left at Schaefer's home were not returned last night.