PRESIDENT'S REPORT AT ANNUAL MEETING
December 19, 2005

As we complete our fourth year as a publicly supported, tax exempt, non-profit, educational organization, I would like to once again review the past year's activities and lay out what we look forward to in the coming year. As you know, Virginia College Parents, Inc. was formed in response to a recommendation by the Virginia Attorney General's Task Force on Drinking by College Students in 1998 to form a statewide parents group concerned with the issue of alcohol and drug abuse in college. At last year's annual meetings, six directors serving the previous year were re-elected for an additional year and Mr. Craig Anderson, a local attorney and college parent was elected a director. I was re-elected as President and Jennifer Cipolla was elected as Secretary-Treasurer. Mr. John Cole, a former board member and parent of a college student victim who now resides in North Carolina remained an un-elected director emeritus. We therefore have had as directors three parents of student victims, two of whom also being parents of current Virginia college students, two other parents of current Virginia college students, one parent whose child is not currently in college but who is a professional practitioner in our field of endeavor and one college law student who graduated this past year and is now an attorney. During the past year, we have also added one member to our Advisory Board, Ryan Smith, an undergraduate student at Virginia Tech who replaced Sarah Warner as a student member. In addition to student leaders, our current Advisory Board is therefore composed of present or past senior distinguished officials from government, academe, non-profit organizations and business, all of whom being a Virginia college parent and/or professionally involved in or otherwise committed to our specific mission.

We were extremely fortunate to acquire the pro-bono services of Morrison & Foerster as Corporate Counsel this past year. Attorneys from this firm reviewed all our previous documentation and correspondence and provided us advice on compliance with federal and state requirements. As a result, we updated both our Bylaws and Articles of Incorporation.

During the past year, I and two other members of our Board of Directors have spoken frequently to high school and college parent and student audiences and other groups. During these presentations, we describe in detail the risks associated with high-risk drinking behaviors, drunk driving and underage drinking, the physiology of alcohol consumption and legal and policy implications. These presentations, routinely made by parents of victims, include descriptions of the personal tragedies suffered by the presenter. In addition to having made these presentations, we attended several meetings as a member of the Virginia Crime Commission Task Force on Campus Safety. We also actively participated in other organization's activities including MADD, WRAP, Security on Campus, the Virginia College Alcohol Leadership Council, the International Institute on Alcohol Awareness, Fairfax County Oversight Committee on Drinking and Driving and Montgomery County Drawing the Line Committee. In addition, we participated actively in the dialogue on college and underage drinking issues at numerous other conferences and meetings including the MADD National Conference, OJJDP National Leadership Conference on Underage Drinking and ABC College Conference for which we served on the organizing and planning committee. We also participated in several OJJDP telephone conferences on underage drinking related topics, gave a number of newspaper and television interviews on these topics and actively supported the proposed Federal STOP Act and Underage Drinking Prevention Act.

During the past year, we held five Board of Directors meetings. During these meetings, in addition to routine financial, administrative and recruitment matters, we discussed and established positions on both federal and state legislation, support of campus safety initiatives and means to increase membership and acquire funding.

For those interested, our federal tax filing is on-file at the IRS and we would be happy to provide a copy upon request.

We continue to maintain and update our web site, www.virginiacollegeparents.com. This has been a major accomplishment and I recommend every member visit the site. Comments and suggestions for improvement are certainly welcome. We also continued to distribute our brochure which includes a significant amount of information taken from the web site.

Another significant activity this past year was introduction, support and passage of Virginia legislation making underage consumption of alcohol and providing alcohol to those underage illegal acts. Previously, only purchase and possession by a person under 21 and sale to a person under 21 were illegal. We were not, however, successful in amending the current exception to the underage drinking laws which allows service of alcohol in residences to guests regardless of age.

As we look forward to next year, we intend to continue making presentations to parent, student and other audiences whenever the opportunity arises. We will again be reviewing and updating the list of things we advocate (which may be found on our website). We will again attempt to expand our membership base and address our fundraising requirements and programs to meet these needs. We plan to continue to play an active role in the national and state level dialogue on alcohol, other drug and violence prevention on campuses throughout the Commonwealth through active participation in the many organizations we are currently affiliated with. And finally, we have already begun efforts to reintroduce legislation in the Virginia General Assembly amending the exception which allows service of alcohol to underage guests in residences.

As a final note, I want to take this opportunity to express my deep gratitude to my fellow Board members and to our Advisory Board for their participation and assistance this past year. The road ahead remains quite long and winding toward our goal of changing the alcohol intense culture that currently exists on campuses throughout the Commonwealth; however, with your dedication and efforts, I firmly believe we can make a difference. Thank you.