A new alcohol policy that will give organizations more discretion when holding social events with alcohol is scheduled to replace the Social Event Management Procedures in winter 2009, according to documents obtained by The Dartmouth on Wednesday. The plan will most likely follow the Alcohol Management Policy, a set of guidelines created by a committee of Dartmouth students and administrators and finalized at the end of Spring term, according to Dean of the College Tom Crady.
"We haven't formally adopted [the AMP] yet, but we're getting close," Crady said. "When I got the policy in the spring, I said, 'This is within my comfort range.'"
The AMP will allow all organizations to develop their own alcohol policies and management procedures within an overarching set of rules established by the College, according to Jenny Fisher '08, one of four students on the SEMP review committee.
"Each organization, whether it be [a Greek organization] or Friday Night Rock or any other organization on campus, will have its own internal practices," Fisher said. "It will be like they're drawing up their own alcohol management policy that has to be approved by their overseeing administrators."
The new policy will allow campus organizations to decide which types of alcohol to serve and in what quantities, Fisher said. Under current SEMP policies, the College determines the allowable amount of alcohol at a social event based solely on the projected number of people in attendance, rather than leaving such decisions to the discretion of the host organization.
"I think the old SEMP policies had a lot of flaws," Fisher said. "They seemed to stem from a lot of mistrust with the administration and students."
The committee -- which was overseen by Dean of Residential Life Martin Redman and consisted of four undergraduates and four additional administrators -- initially tried to revise SEMP, but soon decided to design the AMP instead, Fisher said.
Under the AMP guidelines, each organization's sponsors provide alcohol for social events and ensure the safety of the event's attendees. In addition, organizations must have monitors, whose sole purpose is to ensure the safety of those present, and servers, who must be at least 21 years of age.
The AMP's rules, if adopted, will apply to events attended by 30 or more people where alcohol is present. Under the AMP, sponsors must write their groups' alcohol plans each term, with the aid of a College document titled "Best Practices." Greek organizations, senior societies and residence halls must gain approval of their alcohol management plans from the Office of Residential Life. The Student Activities Office will approve all other student organizations' plans.
Dean Redman declined to comment on the new policy.
In addition to sponsors, monitors and servers, organizations must provide food and non-alcoholic beverages at social events where alcohol is served. Kevin Jackson '10, the summer president of Sigma Nu fraternity, said this stipulation may limit the number of events organizations can throw.
"I don't know how strict they will be with enforcing it, but it might be problematic for some houses if you think that every time you throw a party, you have to provide food," Jackson said.
Aside from the food provision, AMP is much easier to follow than SEMP, Jackson said, as it mandates that alcohol be served from one place rather than requiring groups to register a particular number of kegs.
Current SEMP policies are ineffective primarily because Dartmouth students do not pay attention to them when throwing parties, Crady said.
"I had probably 50 meetings with students during the Winter and Spring terms, and what I consistently heard was that people simply don't pay attention to it," Crady said. "And my question is, then why is that the case? That's what [Redman's] group was looking at."
Chelsea Kirk '10, summer president of Kappa Delta Epsilon sorority, said she believes that SEMP policies are too confusing and that it is difficult to keep track of the large number of rules presented at SEMP trainings.
"For SEMP policy, it's kind of like no one really knows what it is," Kirk said. "A more general set of guidelines is what the College needs so more people are clear on the rules and people can't make the excuse, 'Oh, we didn't know that.'"
