Though alcohol violations forced an unnamed student to withdraw from the College for two years, she continued to drive 100 miles to Hanover every week to attend Alcoholics Anonymous meetings on campus. When she finally returned to Dartmouth, however, she became intoxicated during Homecoming Weekend for the first time since her withdrawal from the College and was forced to separate permanently.
"She was the perfect person to show failure, struggle, redemption and relapse," said Bill, a Dartmouth alumnus and former alcoholic who began holding A.A. meetings on campus three years ago. "Coming back on a campus where alcohol dominates so much is a struggle," he said.
Many students begin attending A.A. on campus after receiving their third alcohol violation from the College. Most students who receive three violations must either withdraw from Dartmouth or face expulsion. Many students hope participating in A.A. will allow them to avoid these consequences by demonstrating their desire to reform their behavior, but it is often too late, Bill said.
Bill and Jay, another alumnus and recovering alcoholic who helped start the meetings at Dartmouth, had hoped the gatherings would eventually become student-run but there has been low student attendance at the weekly meetings, Jay said.
"One of the problems on a college campus is that people who have a real problem with alcohol see other students drink and not pay for it in the same way," Jay said. "They will say to themselves that I'm not different than anybody else is up here."
Dartmouth's A.A. meetings have low student attendance because hitting "rock bottom," which prompts many alcoholics to begin attending A.A. meetings, is an experience most adults under 30 have not had, Bill said.
Counselors can refer students to A.A., but will not reveal students' names to Bill and Jay because A.A. is separate from Dartmouth, Mark Hiatt, a psychologist with Dartmouth Health Services, said.
"I wish in some way that Dick's House and the dean's office could be more helpful in steering students our way," Jay said. "One of the things about addiction is you can't get sober by yourself. You've got to do it with your peers."
The meetings at Dartmouth are open, so anyone who commits to anonymity can attend. Bill and Jay decided not to limit the meetings to admitted alcoholics, as some A.A. groups do, to avoid pressuring those interested in attending, Bill said.
"They're concerned enough about their consumption to look into it," Bill said. "At least encourage them to take a look and see, 'Might this work for me?'"
Al-Anon, a 12-step program founded for friends and family members of alcoholics, has also met weekly at Dartmouth for over a year. The organization seeks to teach attendees how to lead normal, happy lives despite their loved ones' drinking, said Karen Kilibarda, a member of Al-Anon who helped start meetings on campus.
"The alcoholic thinks about taking a drink 500 times a day, and the Al-Anon person thinks about the alcoholic person 500 times a day," Kilibarda said. "What the whole focus is, is how to get your focus off of the alcoholic."
Organizers hoped the on-campus location would encourage Dartmouth students to attend, although the meetings are open to all Upper Valley residents, Kilibarda said. Student turnout, though, remains low. Kilibarda attributed this to young adults' inability to recognize the impact that a friend or family member's drinking has on them.
Family members of alcoholics need as much support as the alcoholics themselves, according to Bill, whose father also suffered from alcoholism. Children of alcoholics are highly likely to develop a drinking problem themselves, he said.
"When I was a student here, my dad was drinking himself to death," Bill said. "If you just do the simple math, there are a lot of students among the student body of 4,100 who are in that boat."
Dick's House offers over 20 support groups for students, including Choices, a forum for students to discuss their alcohol and drug use, and the Adult Children of Alcoholics group. These meetings, which are smaller and less open than A.A. and Al-Anon gatherings, can supplement individual counseling, Hiatt said.
Dartmouth Center on Addiction, Recovery and Education provides internet forums for alumni to discuss alcohol abuse. During reunion weekends, alumni that suffer from alcoholism can attend meetings at Dick's House to discuss their addiction, Jay said.
A.A. was founded in 1935 by Robert Smith, a member of Dartmouth's class of 1902, and William Wilson.
