This morning at 8:30 a.m., College President Phil Hanlon will announce his plans for Moving Dartmouth Forward. The plan is expected to address issues centering on alcohol policy, sexual assault and exclusivity at the College.
Many of Dartmouth’s peer institutions have attempted to implement a variety of policies to stem excessive drinking on campus.
Texas Tech University associate dean for outreach and engagement and director of the center for the study of addiction and recovery Kitty Harris-Wilkes said that the most challenging aspect of effectively harnessing alcohol policy is implementation, and that many policies depend on universities to enforce them.
Harris-Wilkes also said that underage students who choose to drink will find a way to do so, though that does not mean that there is no use in implementing alcohol policies.
The consequences of underage drinking, which include developmental, relational and academic problems, need to be clearly outlined for students, Harris-Wilkes said.
“The bottom line is that it is against the law,” Harris-Wilkes said.
Harris-Wilkes said that there are no easy answers for solving issues related to high-risk drinking, and that if there were simple solutions they would have been implemented before accidents occurred.
In the fall of 2010, Colby College implemented a hard alcohol ban for all students, including those of legal drinking age, the Colby Echo reported.
Bates College and Bowdoin College and have had similar bans in place for several years.
While a hard alcohol ban may be effective, it does not address issues such as high levels of beer consumption on college campuses, University of Minnesota professor Toben Nelson said. Other initiatives include Stanford’s “open door” policy, which encourages students to leave their doors ajar during large social gatherings.
Nelson said he recommends that colleges partner with their local communities and state governments to limit alcohol availability for students.
Possible outcomes of such a relationship could include an alcohol excise tax, increasing liability for sellers and decreasing alcohol availability so that alcohol in fraternities is no longer free and bars do not have deals that encourage high-risk drinking, he said.
For alcohol policies to effectively cut down on student drinking, Nelson said students must know they will likely be caught and will suffer severe, quickly-enacted punishment.
Hanlon’s address is also expected to directly address inclusivity issues at the College.
At Bowdoin, where there is no Greek system, students live in eight college houses, all of which promote programming and bonding among members, according to the college’s website. Bowdoin also makes use of a living learning community system.
In the past, Dartmouth has attempted to promote inclusivity at the College by instituting living learning communities, which seek to bring together students with shared interests.
Hanlon has also emphasized attracting more underrepresented minority faculty to the College, and the College has set aside $1 million to support this hiring goal.
In a report prepared for the Moving Dartmouth Forward presidential steering committee in August, Improve Dartmouth: On The Ground recommended creating more gender-neutral spaces with alcohol to make the social environment more inclusive.
The third area Hanlon wants to address with Moving Dartmouth Forward is the issue of sexual assault on campus. Dartmouth is currently under Title IX and Clery Act compliance investigations.
Dartmouth currently has several programs to combat sexual assault, including the Dartmouth Bystander Initiative and WISE @ Dartmouth, a non-profit in the Upper Valley that provides services for those affected by domestic and sexual violence and stalking.
Other colleges have adopted their own initiatives to address issues of sexual violence on campus. Swarthmore’s Task Force on Sexual Misconduct, for instance, recommended improved sexual assault prevention education and the provision of resources and information for students, the Swarthmore Phoenix reported.
Laura Dunn, founder of SurvJustice, a non-profit that works to provide justice for victims of sexual assault, said that communities should work together to prevent sexual misconduct.
Males should go through gender-specific education, as most males who commit sexual assault think that the action is considered acceptable among their peers, Dunn said.
She added that sexual assault policies need to have clear standards, including a definition for consent.
Amnesty policies, which would allow victims who were under the influence of narcotics or alcohol during the assault to step forward without repercussions, could also be effective because they encourage students to report assaults regardless of the circumstances, Dunn said.
Under current College policy, students under 21 who report an assault and were under the influence of alcohol or other drugs during the incident will not be charged with violating the College’s alcohol policy, according to the Sexual Assault Awareness Program’s website.
On June 19, 2014, Dartmouth adopted a stronger disciplinary policy for students charged with sexual assault, which requires an independent investigator to examine complaints and mandatory expulsion in some sexual assault cases.
The College also hosted the Dartmouth Summit on Sexual Assault, a national conference that brought together experts from around the country, last summer.
The Board of Trustees unanimously voted in favor of Hanlon’s proposal, Chair of the Board of Trustees Bill Helman wrote in an email to campus. The email also mentioned making the College more academically rigorous for students.
