After weeks of insurance issues with the highly popular Psi Upsilon fraternity keg jump, the organization has cancelled the event for the foreseeable future, with the house saying that it was disappointed with the College's efforts to help the event continue.
Following a decision last month by the College's insurer to withdraw coverage for the event, the Zeta Association of Psi U, the organization's governing corporation, voted to end the event after nearly 20 years.
"We probably should have put a stop to it long ago," Robert Kaiser '39, the treasurer of the governing corporation said, calling last year's keg jump a "fiasco."
Asked if the keg jump will return for future carnivals, Kaiser responded, "No way."
A modified version of the fraternity's ice rink will remain, however, under a compromise worked out between the fraternity and the insurance company providing coverage.
The fate of both the keg jump and the rink had been in limbo for the past three weeks, ever since Psi U's insurance company conducted a routine review.
Dean of Residential Life Marty Redman previously told The Dartmouth that because Psi U is a College recognized organization, insurance coverage was an absolute necessity because the College could be held liable for any accidents.
Redman also previously said the lack of insurance would be the only snag keeping the event from taking place.
But hopes of continuing the event even if insurance could be found were dashed when results of the corporation's vote came in last week.
Disapproving of the way the College handled the issue, Psi U President Mike Holick '02 said, "We were willing to make the compromises to have the keg jump," but added that the College "wasn't helpful in dealing with insurance."
The fraternity is currently working on a project to take the keg jump's place, but Holick would not give any details.
The vote among trustees of the Zeta Association -- composed of alumni of Dartmouth's chapter of Psi U -- was initiated last week by Kaiser, who said he had come to the conclusion the affair had become too hazardous for the health of those involved.
The fraternity was put on probation last April for six weeks after the Judicial Committee of the Coed Fraternity Sorority Council determined the fraternity had violated Dartmouth's Community Standards of Conduct and the Student Alcohol policy during the event.
Kaiser said that although the corporation's vote was catalyzed by the retraction of insured coverage for the jump and the ice rink, last week's decision was a matter of safety.
Even if the current members of the house had managed to find an insurance company willing to cover the keg jump, Kaiser said he believes the result would have remained the same.
It was a "very substantial majority" of the corporation's 17 trustees that voted against the event, Kaiser said, adding that from the tone of the responses, he did not think they were swayed by insurance.
Negotiations between the Zeta Association and the original insurance company led to a compromise in which the ice rink itself will remain covered against liabilities, provided some changes were made to its boundaries.
According to Holick, the insurance company mandated three specific changes for the rink to remain insured.
These include the destruction of parts of the ice rink's borders, which are on College-owned land, and the clearing of entranceways from both West Wheelock St. and the Thayer service road.
