Reactions to the announcement of a hard alcohol ban, new residential communities and increased academic rigor were mixed following President Hanlon’s unveiling of his Moving Dartmouth Forward policies Thursday morning. Faculty members interviewed generally supported the academic aspects while students were mixed on specific policies and the overall enforceability.
Dartmouth’s Center for the Advancement of Learning director Lisa Baldez said that increasing academic rigor will shift attention toward an area in which Dartmouth excels, but that the changes themselves are minor. The resources that Hanlon said would be provided for experiential learning, such as funding for materials, are going to help faculty expand what they already do in that field.
French and Italian department chair Andrea Tarnowski said that Hanlon’s calls for more academic rigor will keep intellectual aspirations and ideals high at the college.Tarnowski said that she supported the faculty adviser policy because it will promote students faculty interactions outside of the classroom and prevent the partition between academics and the rest of student life.
Computer science department chair Thomas Cormen said that while he supports that the policy will mandate that Greek houses have both a male and female faculty adviser, and he wants professors to take an increased role outside of the classroom, it could be a challenge getting faculty to give up their personal time to do so.
Cormen said that despite the possibility that the hard alcohol ban could push drinking underground, he supports the ban and its inclusion of students over 21.
“Plagiarism is legal, and Dartmouth doesn’t allow it,” he said. “They don’t need to allow everything that is legal.”
Chair of the sociology department Kathryn Lively said she was not surprised by any of the recommendations through her involvement with the Committee on Student Affairs and various discussions on campus.
Lively said that it is important for the College to have a more diverse faculty and student body. She said she was skeptical about the effectiveness of the ban on hard alcohol.
“If the students don’t want to change, then it is going to be hard for a policy, such as a ban on hard alcohol, to have them change,” Lively said.
Student Assembly president Casey Dennis ’15 said that the student body should not be afraid of change and that Moving Dartmouth Forward should be taken as an opportunity for students to challenge themselves.
Student Assembly vice president and student member of the presidential steering committee Frank Cunningham ’16 said he was satisfied with the recommendations that were being implemented but acknowledged that there were mixed reactions to the announcement.
Palaeopitus senior society and Student Assembly held a student forum Thursday night for students to voice their opinions, and questions were gathered to send to Hanlon and other administrators with the goal that they will be addressed at a town hall meeting later this term.
Thirty students were in attendance along with four moderators from Student Assembly and Palaeopitus.
Palaeopitus member and moderator for the event Ashneil Jain ’15 said that the forum was held to generate dialogue among students about the newly proposed plan. The dialogue from the forum will help to create a series of questions that students have about the policies, and clarify details surrounding the policies themselves, their implementation and the possible impact they will have on the future of the College, he said.
Discussions at the forum included questions and concerns over the policies. Palaeopitus member Shoshana Silverstein ’15 said at the start of the forum that student involvement is key to Moving Dartmouth Forward succeeding.
Student and Presidential Committee on Sexual Assault president Victoria Nevel ’16 said that President Hanlon’s decision to continue the College’s relationship with WISE is a step in the right direction for combatting sexual assault, but she would also like to see the results of the annual student climate survey be made to the public.
Avery Feingold ’17, an undergraduate adviser, was disappointed by the announcement and said that the policy for UGAs, which will mandate that UGAs do rounds from Wednesday through Saturday nights, changes the purpose of the role. UGAs strive to be resources that students can come to if they get too drunk, rather than be people whose goal it is to report students for getting drunk or being irresponsible, Feingold said.
UGA Tyler Fisher ’17 said that the announcement did not change much as UGAs are already expected to report any violations of College policy, including drinking in dorm rooms. He said that he believes that students who are drinking openly enough to be seen should be reported.
Of 11 students polled by The Dartmouth, five questioned the enforceability of the policies and eight said they thought the policies went in the right direction.
Hunter van Adelsberg ’15 said that while he thinks the general direction is right, he is less sure of logistics of some of the policies.
“I am a little skeptical about how they are going to enforce some of the policies and handle some of the logistics and costs of what they want to do,” he said.
Zoe Snow ’18 said she wondered how the current freshmen will fit into the new undergraduate housing system as they will be in the middle of the transition but said it is good that Hanlon is addressing the criticism that Dartmouth has received.
Anna Rowthorn-Apel ’18 said that she thinks the ban on hard alcohol will drive drinking underground.
Julian Marcu ’18 said that the announcement, specifically the call to increase inclusivity at the college, painted the College in an unfair light compared to other schools who do haveproblems with inclusivity.
Several students attended the event and held up signs with slogans such as “Abolish the greek system,” and “boo.” Those students declined to comment.
The article has been revised to reflect the following corrections:
Corrections appended: January 30, 2015
The initial version of this article mistakenly quoted Jain as saying the purpose of the student forum was so that students could work with administrators to change parts of the Moving Dartmouth Forward plan with which they do not agree. He said the forum's purpose was to foster dialogue among the students so that administrators may answer their questions to clarify confusion and misunderstandings around the policies, their implementation and their effects on the College. The Dartmouth regrets the error.
Corrections appended: February 3, 2015
The initial version of this article mistakenly quoted Feingold as saying that he was disappointed by the announcement and said that the policy for UGAs, which will provide training on how to enforce the new policies, changes the purpose of the role. Feingold was reacting to the change in the rounds policy, not to the new training. The Dartmouth regrets the error.
The initial version of this article mistakenly quoted Marcu as saying that the announcement painted the College in an unfair light compared to other schools who have similar problems. Marcu does not believe that Dartmouth has these problems, while other schools do. The Dartmouth regrets the error.
