Among Dartmouth student disciplined by the College, a disproportionate number are punished for violations of the alcohol policy, and after a downward trend throughout the 1990s, the numbers are back on the rise, according to Undergraduate Judicial Affairs Officer Marcia Kelly.
In 1993-1994, a total of 431 alcohol violations were counted, and the numbers steadily decreased, reaching a low of 207 violations in 1996-1997.
However, last year these numbers soared again, totaling 310 for the period spanning the summer of 1998 through the spring of 1999.
Last year, including alcohol violations, there were a total of 428 disciplinary cases. In the highest recorded number of infringements of the Academic Honor Principle in 15 years, 20 cases were processed through the College's system.
A large proportion of those students disciplined by the College for alcohol violations are freshmen, Kelly said. Other transgressions in which College discipline is utilized, from violations of the Academic Honor Principle to various forms of assault, are spread across all four classes.
Kelly attributed the sharp decrease of infractions in the 1990s to a phenomenon of what she ironically called "peer education" in which upperclass students warn freshmen of what to do to avoid apprehension.
"We went down from 431 because upperclass students talked to underclass students about what not to do; they passed on information about what would happen to them, they said, 'Do this, don't do this,'" Kelly added.
These circumstances were caused by an increased awareness of the punishments, she said. Kelly pointed out specifically the Hanover Police Department's new policy in 1994 that allowed officers to make arrests in suspicion of "internal possession" of alcohol.
Under the "internal possession" policy, police could use the presence of alcohol in the bloodstream as circumstantial evidence to charge students with "unlawful possession" in accordance with New Hampshire Revised Statutes Annotated 179:10.
After a heated debate in 1995 involving the NH chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, the Hanover Police Department, and the College, the policy was changed, and currently, officers do not arrest people merely for "internal possession."
Breaking down the total number of alcohol violations last year into different categories, that 213 of the total 310 were cases of public intoxication, 16 involved possession of other drugs--mostly marijuana " 77 were cases of underage drinking, and three students were disciplined for having an open container of alcohol.
She pointed out, however, that these statistics can be deceiving when placed in contrast to other schools.
"Our numbers always look large in comparison to our peer institutions, our numbers look high even in comparison to the University of Michigan," she said.
Indicating that these numbers should not be taken at face value, Kelly said that institutions handle alcohol violations in different ways.
"For example," she said, "Harvard's campus police have police powers and don't look for those kinds of violations."
"It's like comparing apples and oranges," she continued, adding that Dartmouth "does a better job at some pieces of enforcement than other institutions."
Kelly said that there were no statistics calculated concerning whether more men or women underwent College discipline.
Though alcohol violations are the most prevalent on campus, Dean of First Year Students Gail Zimmerman said that these are not the problems she is most worried about.
"My biggest concern is behavior which is uncivil," she said. "Why has society reached a level in which violence is an appropriate and acceptable response to frustration? That is not acceptable in this college community. It shouldn't be acceptable in any community."
