In one of the most extreme efforts to deal with the problem of binge drinking and it’s effects on student safety and welfare, Dartmouth College announced on Thursday that it will ban students from possessing or drinking hard alcohol on campus, regardless of age.
“The evidence is clear: Hard alcohol is posing a serious threat to the health and safety of our campus,” Dartmouth President Philip J. Hanlon said in an address entitled “Moving Dartmouth Forward” delivered on the Hanover, New Hampshire, school’s campus. The speech also included new rules that forbid the pledging process for fraternities and sororities and much stricter penalties for those found guilty of sexual offenses.
“To truly create a safe environment—and one that is advantageous to learning—we will also have to tackle the challenge of excessive drinking. Dartmouth will take the lead among colleges and universities in eliminating hard alcohol on campus,” Hanlon said, in detailing a plan that came after the school’s president challenged students and faculty in April to come up with ideas on how to fight excessive drinking and sexual assault on the private Ivy League school with a serious partying reputation.
“In addition, we will ask that the entire campus community follow suit and not serve hard alcohol at college-sponsored events and be role models for the healthy consumption of alcohol,” he added, explaining that the new plan will require third-party security and bartenders at social events and increased penalties for students found in possession of alcohol, especially those who purchase and provide it to minors.
Among the other proposed changes that will take place as of the fall of 2016:
>> A new housing model to inspire inclusiveness on campus that will place new students in one of six communities. Each will have six “houses” based around a home base responsible for hosting and organizing social and academic programs with the hope of fostering a bond that could last beyond freshman year.
>> The “POSSE” program to attract more high school students from different socio-economic backgrounds.
>> A mandatory, comprehensive four-year sexual violence prevention and education program for students and first-responder training for staff and mandatory expulsion for students found guilty of the most serious offenses. Also, the posting of an online “consent manual” that will “reduce ambiguity about what is acceptable and what is not.”
>> A Dartmouth-specific app that will provide assistance for anyone feeling threatened.
>> Every student will have to sign a Code of Conduct that sets out expectations tied to civility, dignity, diversity, community and safety.
The school’s Greek system will also undergo a major overhaul, beginning with the elimination of all pledge periods for new members and a mandatory faculty or staff sponsor for all Greek Houses. If the changes do not lead to “meaningful and lasting reform” over the next 3-5 years, Hanlon said “we will need to revisit the system’s continuation on our campus.”
Dartmouth University
Will the no-alcohol plan work? Kevin Kruger, the president of NASPA – Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education, told the Washington Post that it was a most unusual move.
“You wouldn’t find that on most campuses,” he said, though the focus on hard alcohol makes sense because “most of the really horrific things that happened related to alcohol happen with hard alcohol. … It just takes too much beer to get there.” Because most drinking happens in off-campus settings, and most students can’t legally drink anyway, there have been sporadic efforts to try and enforce drinking restrictions at universities. Dartmouth officials say incidents of extreme intoxication — students whose blood alcohol concentration above .25 — have fallen sharply from 36 in 2010 to 7 in 2013.
The changes at the 6,300-student school — which is one of 95 colleges and universities that are currently the subjects of a civil rights investigation for their handling of sexual violence on campus — come shortly after the University of Virginia implemented new rules for serving alcohol at fraternity parties following its own struggles with sexual harassment and violence.
Do you think Dartmouth’s new no-hard alcohol ban will make a difference? Let us know in comments below.
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