The College Committee on Alcohol and Other Drugs will hold an open forum tonight in 105 Dartmouth Hall to discuss 11 "draft principles" which the committee says should be foundation of alcohol policy on campus.
The CCAOD, which is comprised of several students, administrators and faculty members was re-established by Dean of the College Lee Pelton last spring to evaluate the role of alcohol and other drugs on campus.
Although the principles -- which were drafted last November -- are not official recommendations, in the committee's opinion they represent "guidelines" for College policy which "may or may not lead to certain changes" in the current alcohol policy, CCAOD Chair Sean Gorman previously told The Dartmouth.
Tonight's forum was organized "to get some input from students as to how they view the principles," according to Gorman, who is also the associate college counsel.
"The idea is to gather together and discuss certain issues that the committee feels are valid and hopefully act together to resolve any problems there might be in the alcohol use at Dartmouth," said Chris Atwood '98, president of the Coed Fraternity Sorority Council.
Atwood said he has encouraged all the presidents of the CFSC system to attend the forum.
Participants in tonight's forum will be placed in small discussion groups "instead of having a free-for-all atmosphere," Gorman said. He said he hopes the group format will help solicit more comments from the participants.
"One of the tasks for the Winter term is to consider the feedback we get from students in terms of coming up with specific policy recommendations," Gorman said.
Currently, there are no plans to hold more forums this term, Gorman said, though more may be held in the future, he said.
Gorman stressed that he has welcomed student opinion and will continue to do so after the forum.
Katherine Frias '98, president of Kappa Delta Epsilon sorority said, "I think it's going to be a very interesting discussion. I'm really looking forward to attending. I feel they bring up some points that the people in the Greek system are aware exist."
"I hope students approach [the forum] with an open mind and not go in there thinking that the College just wants to get us," said Dave Belden '97, president of Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity. "We've been warned not to go in there and chew the College apart. I believe a considerable number of the students on the committee are in Greek houses."
Some of the CCAOD principles have been disputed by students.
The fifth principle targets the failure of the CFSC's "self-monitoring system," which seeks to ensure compliance with College alcohol policies by students and student organizations.
"My stance ... is that the [self-monitoring] system is not failing at all," said Punk Gupta '98, president of Chi Gamma Epsilon fraternity. The goal of the system is to ensure the safety of students at Dartmouth College and the system has definitely done that," he said.
Mariam Malik '98, president of the Panhellenic Council, said, "I don't think [the self-monitoring system] has necessary failed. It is important for us to outline the goals of this system and whether its success is based on the number of houses implicated for serving minors with alcohol or the number of casualties prevented by forcing these houses to be increasingly cautious," Malik said.
"I don't think that [the self-monitoring system] is a system in place for students to police other students," Frias said. "I think it is there for the fraternity and sorority system to make sure that whatever we are doing, we are doing correctly."
Students also disagreed with the eighth principle, which states "Current levels of alcohol use by students and student organizations frequently cause harm to individuals, disrupt the community, and interfere with the College's educational mission."
But Malik said, "If we were in a big city, instead of going to a Greek house to drink, students would go to bars or clubs. [Drinking] goes on wherever students are. We'd have other problems [if we were in a big city], such as drunk driving."
