Although more Greek houses are being charged this term for hosting unregistered "parties" compared to previous terms, College officials admitted that the number of such events has not gone up this fall -- inadvertently admitting that perhaps the College is simply enforcing the pre-existing policy more strictly.
"I certainly wouldn't think [the number of unregistered parties] has gone up," said Assistant Dean of Residential Life, Cassie Barnhardt.
Head of the Department of Safety and Security, Proctor McEwen agreed, saying that he "didn't think" the amount of unregistered events had increased. "We always have unregistered events," he said, adding that there was "no noticeable increase or decrease," in their number.
Nor has the recent number of fraternities accused of having unregistered parties -- three this term -- led to more requests for registered events.
"They seem quite consistent with what's happened in the past," Barnhardt said.
Barnhardt also denied that the switch from a special Coed, Fraternity and Sorority Judiciary Committee to the campus-wide Organizational Adjudication Committee had altered the number of violations prosecuted. She said that under both systems it takes a lot of effort for the administration to prepare a case.
The current social events management system allows houses to have one registered social event a week, unless they are granted a special exception.
Under the current policy, in place since 1993, events are grouped into different "tiers" based on the number of people and type of alcohol present.
This system applies only to CFS organizations. Other organizations are subject to regulations by their respective departments and the student alcohol policy.
All events must be registered with Safety and Security unless they are held within a student's room, in a student social space with fewer than 25 people or in a CFS house with fewer than 40 people or the number of the brotherhood.
"Dartmouth students are responsible for obeying the student alcohol policy, that's the common thread that unites regardless of who you are," Barnhardt said.
Groups may request a special exception to the one-event-per-week limit, which would be considered on a case by case basis. Barnhardt said though, that such requests were rare and "there are only a limited number of times that groups have asked for exceptions."
Barnhardt added that the current social events monitoring system was developed by the CFS system as a way to ensure compliance with the student alcohol policy. The system refines a broad rule to make it realistic she said.
Regarding requests, such as those by Inter-Fraternity Council President, Eric Powers '02, who is also a member of The Dartmouth sports staff, to change the current system, Barnhardt said "the CFS community has an opportunity to look at those things and evaluate those things at anytime that it would choose as long as it complies with college alcohol policy."
"The broad rule is that if you're under 21 you don't get to drink," Barnhardt added.
McEwen said that registered social events will have "a couple of walkthroughs" during the event to check with compliance on the student alcohol policy.
He added that unregistered events are discovered when "officers will see an inordinate amount of people where we know that they don't have an event registered."
He recommended that houses having trouble controlling numbers of people call the office.
"We would go over and provide assistance if they were having difficulty controlling [the event]," he said.
