The process of removing bars and tap systems in Greek houses is in full swing and should be completed before the Sept. 16 deadline, according to Dean of Residential Life Martin Redman.
Redman told The Dartmouth that he believes every house opted to have the College pay for the bar removals, however some houses have decided to make further basement renovations which will not be paid for by the College.
"I think most houses made the best of it," Redman said, commenting that he believes the coed fraternity and sorority organizations "worked hard to determine how to deal with the issue now that it's happening."
He added that many CFS houses considered ways to reconfigure their basements for portable bars and to improve traffic flows during parties.
According to Redman, while some houses had their bars removed even before the deadline for the removal proposals, others have begun the process in the past week and many more are expected to begin in the weeks ahead.
While he said he expects all of the houses to have completed the project before the beginning of Fall term, Redman noted that if some complications arise it could delay some houses from meeting the deadline.
Such issues as potential plumbing and asbestos issues with the walls and the possibility that the bar structures are part of the basement floor may cause unexpected problems, Redman said. He added, however, that houses that have made reasonable efforts to remove their bars will not be penalized if they do not meet the deadline due to complications.
Redman said the process of working with houses on the removal has gone relatively smoothly and that Assistant Deans of Residential Life Deborah Carney and Cassie Bernhardt, along with Assistant Director of Residential Operations Bernard Haskell, worked with houses to develop ideas for repairing and modifying the spaces currently occupied by bars.
"We brought ideas between houses," Redman said. "We tried to act consistently -- if houses had similar setups we tried to let them know what other houses were doing."
He said that some houses will not be removing their bars, but will rather be building new, non-bar units on top of them, walling them off into closet areas, or engaging in other creative uses of the space.
Redman said that in dealing with the houses, he found more vocal opposition to the removal of upstairs bars than to their basement counterparts, an issue he attributed to the expectation that only the basement bars would be removed.
Some houses were allowed to keep their other bars if they could prove to the Office of the Residential Life that they have not traditionally been used for alcohol service and have had other uses in the past.
"These were not bars in the way students here would have traditionally defined those spaces," Redman said. "But, if it becomes a bar in the future it will be removed," he added saying that the space will not be able to be used for alcohol service.
He also reiterated that the issue was not simply the bars in Greek house basements.
"It's not just the bar," he said. "It's the symbolism of the bar. In some houses that's the only thing you see [in the basement]."
Redman asserted, however, that "I'm not suggesting that the first thing you see when you walk in [to a CFS house] is a computer and a World Book Encyclopedia symbolizing academia," suggesting that some middle ground needs to be reached.
"I'd hope students say we were fair and fairly consistent" when they think of how the removal process was handled, Redman said, although he noted that many were surprised that the process began when it did this summer, just a few months after the announcement of the plan by the Board of Trustees.
