Participation in the Hanover Alcohol Diversion Program fell by around 30 percent between 2012 and 2013, dropping from 91 students in 2012 to 62 in 2013. The number of Dartmouth undergraduates taking part in the program — which offers first-time underage drinking offenders an educational alternative to court — nearly halved, with 45 students participating in 2013 compared to 87 students the previous year.
Diversion program coordinator Elizabeth Rathburn said the drop in Dartmouth student participation may be linked to the Greek Leadership Council’s 2013 policy banning freshmen from Greek houses during the first six weeks of fall term, though she added that it is difficult to identify a definitive cause from a one-year decrease.
“The first week of school during Orientation, we usually get bombarded with intakes,” she said. “This year that did not happen.”
Rathburn said intakes were also not as high as usual once the ban lifted after Homecoming, when freshmen were allowed into fraternities and sororities for the first time.
The proportion of alcohol incidents involving freshmen dipped slighly from 49 to 46 percent of all incidents between fall 2012 and fall 2013, according to data released by The Dartmouth College Health Improvement Program and the Greek Leadership Council in January.
Safety and Security handled 16 percent fewer incidents of intoxicated undergraduates in fall 2013 compared to fall 2012, continuing a steady decline. Safety and Security also received fewer Good Samaritan calls in fall 2013, 37, compared to 48 calls received in fall 2012.
Dartmouth Emergency Medical Services has not yet compiled data from the past year and could not comment on changes in the number of alcohol-related calls it received, executive director Ethan Thomas ’14 said.
When Dartmouth EMS responds to an incident, it will only request the presence of Hanover Police when there are safety issues that Safety and Security cannot handle or if the patient requests police presence.
For strictly alcohol-related calls, Dartmouth EMS will not contact Hanover Police, Thomas said, but if a patient requires an ambulance, Hanover Police will typically accompany the ambulance and take the individual into protective custody even if police presence was not requested.
“We take privacy and the best interests of our patients very seriously,” Thomas said.
When Hanover police takes an 18- to 20-year-old into protective custody for unlawful possession of alcohol or unlawful possession and intoxication, the responding officer can offer the individual the option of participating in the Diversion program rather than appear in court.
Violators convicted in court run the risk of losing driving privileges in New Hampshire.
In New Hampshire, a first-time offense for unlawful possession and intoxication carries a minimum $300 fine.
Participation in the Diversion program costs $400, which is set to be in line with what an individual would pay if he or she went to court.
Seventeen non-Dartmouth students participated in the Diversion program in 2013, a 77 percent increase from the program’s four participants in 2012. Rathburn said she was unsure what prompted the increase.
Most non-Dartmouth participants are college students visiting their friends at the College or prospective students, Rathburn said. High school students who live in the area can complete a separate program, which requires more time than the Diversion program and includes a community service component.
In 2012, the Diversion program changed from two days to one day. Previously, participants attended a six-hour course on Saturday and then returned on Sunday for a one-on-one session with a counselor, Rathburn said.
Each Diversion program has eight participants, and Rathburn said the next program is scheduled for July.
Hanover Police has received mostly positive feedback from students, Rathburn said.
“It’s not an all-day lecture about not drinking,” she said. “It’s more productive than that.”
University of Wisconsin at Madison student Spencer Baldwin, who was visiting a friend this February when Hanover Police took him into protective custody for underage drinking, said the six-hour Diversion program at first seemed daunting.
Baldwin, who was the only non-Dartmouth student in his section, said his experience was surprisingly positive.
“I expected it to be a repeat of middle school alcohol lessons,” he said. “But it was much more interactive than I expected.”
Baldwin said his daylong program was divided into two three-hour parts. First, the program asked participants to talk with one another about the reasons they were taking part in the program and the effects of alcohol consumption.
After lunch, participants had a one-on-one conversation with a counselor for about 30 minutes.
