National and local interest in student alcohol use has prompted several Dartmouth groups, including the Board of Trustees, to examine campus drinking from a variety of different perspectives.
The Trustees will devote a two hour session during their Fall term meeting in Hanover this weekend to a discussion of alcohol.
In addition, the College Health Service, the Coed Fraternity and Sorority Council, the Dean's Office, the Student Assembly and Palaeopitus -- a senior organization that advises the College administration -- are analyzing alcohol use from angles ranging from enforcement to health to its effects on the College's social environment.
Administrators and student leaders say the broad-based, cross-sectional analyses of alcohol stems from both the Trustees' interest in the issue and the recent attention of the Hanover Police Department's policies on underage drinking.
A Columbia University report about alcohol use on college campuses prompted the Trustees to place an informational discussion about alcohol on its agenda, College spokesman Alex Huppe said.
The report, released during the summer, found that 42 percent of college students participate in binge drinking, which is defined as consuming five or more drinks in one sitting.
The study, conducted by Columbia's Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse, reported statistics especially pertinent to Dartmouth's environment. The study found that students who live in fraternities and sororities drink three times as much as the average student and that students at rural schools binge drink more than students at urban schools (46 percent versus 34 percent).
Chairman of the Board of Trustees E. John Rosenwald, a member of the commission that compiled the report, thought the Board should discuss alcohol, Huppe said.
Consistent with its past policies of not "micro-managing" the College, the Trustees are not expected to make any policy decisions related to alcohol.
"This program is for informational purposes rather than action," Huppe said. "It is the responsibility of the Board of Trustees to set the course for Dartmouth over the long haul, and the Trustees feel it is important to consider not only administration but also major issues."
On Friday, Janet Sims, the director of the Health Resource Department, will present the Trustess with the results of a comprehensive alcohol survey of Dartmouth students conducted by her department last spring.
The survey, which will also be released to The Dartmouth Friday, found, among other things, that 37 percent of Dartmouth students have one or fewer drinks each week, said Gabrielle Lucke, the College's health educator.
The CFSC was asked to respond this summer to an Office of Residential Life survey on alcohol enforcement and use but CFSC President Chris Donley '95 said the council is waiting for the College to review the alcohol policy before releasing any information on the survey.
Scott Swenson '95, president of the Interfraternity Council, said alcohol use has always been a major topic of discussion for the IFC.
The Assembly's Task Force on Alcohol is also taking a close look at alcohol-related issues on campus, specifically focussing on how alcohol effects the College's social environment.
Danielle Moore '95, Assembly president and Task Force co-chair, said she hoped the task force would serve as a forum for "honest and direct discussion."
Moore said the major goal of the task force is to put together a report that will be given to the administration at the end of the academic year.
"It'll be more of a critique of the social environment at Dartmouth, information concerning what the task force feels social life at Dartmouth is like ... an analysis of the campus from a student perspective," Moore said.
Moore also said she hopes the task force will serve as a vehicle for students to help shape College policy concerning alcohol.
"We hope to lessen hostility between administrators and students, rather than reacting to it," Moore said.
Asgard, an organization committed to creating non-alcoholic social programming, has sponsored several coffee houses this term and a square dance at Webster Hall.
"There's always been a small undercurrent of disgust with the current state of alcohol abuse on campus," Mark Landis '97, facilitator for Asgard, said.
Palaeopitus will meet with Dean of Residential Life Mary Turco in the coming week to discuss the current alcohol policy. Turco formed a committee to review the current alcohol policy, as intended when the policy was created.
Administrators attribute the focus on alcohol to the Trustees' interest in the issue.
"When people at the top are concerned, this concern reverberates," Gabrielle Lucke, the College's health educator, said. "When the Board of Trustees decides to take a look at things, it gets everybody moving. It makes folks stand up and take assessment."
Lucke made clear, however, that the Trustees' decision to allot two hours to the discussion of alcohol is not a "knee-jerk response" to the recent police controversy.
Dean of the College Lee Pelton said he felt the Trustees' interest in the subject combined with local issues has "re-ignited this interest in alcohol."
Swenson said feels the sudden interest is spurred by the Hanover Police becoming more involved with what goes on around campus.
Huppe said he thinks campus organizations are echoing the Trustees' concern about alcohol.
"The Trustees will be discussing the effectiveness of what we currently do and new approaches," Pelton.
Administrators said discussion of alcohol issues will raise awareness on campus.
"Our philosophy at Dartmouth is that education should help students who drink to understand the risks involved and make judgments based on this knowledge," Pelton said
Pelton said the main hope of the College is that the students will drink in a "low risk manner."
Lucke said, "Underage college students are going to use alcohol. That is a fact. I'm not going to tell them not to drink. The role of education is to teach people how to make lower risk decisions."
According to Huppe, a number of alumni have reported that their problems with alcohol began at Dartmouth and "wish that Dartmouth had educational programs when they were here."
Pelton said, "Education is only one piece, we have to provide alternatives for people who don't drink and for students who have a real drinking problem."
