The College entered the national media spotlight again last week as College President Phil Hanlon announced his Moving Dartmouth Forward plan, with most coverage focusing on the decision to ban hard alcohol on campus.
The slew of coverage comes after Dartmouth made headlines for a series of protests last spring and for allegations of hazing and Title IX and Clery Act investigations.
Media outlets from the Associated Press, CBS and NPR to MTV and Jezebel reported on Hanlon’s plan after his announcement last Thursday morning. Some associated the ban on hard alcohol with the elimination of pledge terms in the fall, while others put the ban in context of recent concerns over sexual assault related to drinking and Greek life.
The Washington Post highlighted both the hard alcohol ban and residential communities, and associated the plan as a whole with reviews at the University of Virginia, which has gained national attention recently after Rolling Stone magazine published a story on a sexual assault at UVA. The story noted that Hanlon’s plan goes further than recent alcohol policy changes for fraternity parties at UVA, which allow hard alcohol consumption if an outside bartender is hired or a sober fraternity member regulates smaller bottles of hard alcohol at smaller events.
The Wall Street Journal focused on the ban, as well as calls for reform from the Greek system and the plan’s attempt to curb a “party culture” that is associated with sexual assault. The report drew parallels with recent reforms at Brown University, UVA and Swarthmore College.
The New York Times reported on the ban and Hanlon’s drawing on student misconduct as the impetus for change. The Times highlighted Dartmouth’s “string of embarrassments” related to binge drinking, but contextualized them with recent instances of binge drinking, hazing and sexual assault on campuses across the country. The report noted that the College’s new policy on hard alcohol goes beyond what the majority of other colleges have instituted, and reported that experts expect few other institutions to follow the College’s lead.
Bloomberg News reported the College was considering a hard alcohol ban leading up to the announcement Thursday morning, then reported on the student life and academic aspects of the plan.The Atlantic ran coverage of the ban on hard alcohol and other Moving Dartmouth Forward initiatives under the headline “No One Knows How to Stop Campus Alcohol Abuse,” writing that it is “hard to put much faith” in the College’s ban. The report called a hard alcohol ban more symbolic than likely to show actual success, writing that it might lead to less knowledge on hard alcohol consumption or push drinking hard alcohol off campus, making it more difficult to regulate.
Comparing the changes with the dictate by national organizations of UVA sororities for members to not attend fraternity parties during rush week, the report deemed this “no solution at all” and called Dartmouth’s plan “equally invalid” for other reasons, but concluded that there seem to be no other valid ideas for dealing with concerns like binge drinking and its relationship to sexual assault.
In an editorial published Sunday the Valley News compared Hanlon with Nixon’s opening China in 1972. Problems with alcohol consumption as well as sexual assault had to be addressed, the editorial stated, as “turmoil” on campus and bad publicity had “tarnished” the College’s reputation, even before Hanlon took office. The editorial expressed approval of Hanlon’s confrontation of such issues on campus, drawing contrast with former College President Jim Yong Kim’s treatment of such concerns.
College Director of Media Relations Diana Lawrence wrote in an email that Moving Dartmouth Forward has drawn media attention because it is unprecedented amongst colleges, pointing to coverage in the Washington Post that noted that Dartmouth was among few others in addressing high-risk behavior on campus in a bold and thorough manner. Hanlon is taking the issues addressed in Moving Dartmouth Forward seriously, and that type of leadership gains media attention, she wrote.
Fifteen students interviewed by The Dartmouth overwhelmingly expressed they felt that national media coverage focused heavily on the hard alcohol ban, while neglecting other important elements of the plan.
“I think that they’re focusing too much on the alcohol part of it, but I think it’s more multi-faceted,” Marcella Saboe ’18 said. “I think the changes in residential life are more significant and they’re not paying attention to these as much.”
Savannah Liu ’18 said she felt national media attention made it seem as if issues addressed in Moving Dartmouth Forward are limited to the College, while she said it is not only Dartmouth that grapples with such issues.
Kahlil D’Souza ’17 said he found it unfortunate that national media coverage of the plan was fixated on the hard alcohol ban, though he believes it shows the College is committed to being a progressive institution. He hopes it will lead to serious discussion over the role of alcohol on other college campuses, he said.
Subur Khan ’17 said from the coverage she read, articles seemed to disproportionately focus on the hard alcohol ban, though she said she does not believe problems with alcohol consumption at the College are any worse than at other schools. She noted that national media seemed to give little coverage to residential life and academic changes, which are major elements of Moving Dartmouth Forward.
Nick Moolenijzer ’17 said he believes coverage of Moving Dartmouth Forward will help the College’s national reputation because it makes the institution seem as if it is doing a lot to address such issues, though he said it depicts Dartmouth students in a bad light, seemingly placing blame on the student body. He cited the New York Times’ headline, which said the College was banning hard alcohol in response to student misconduct.
Jon Li ’16 said that he believes it is realistic to expect bad press and reactionary pieces from the Moving Dartmouth Forward announcement.
“Whether it’s seen in a positive light among our institutional peers remains to be seen,” he said.
Bronwyn Lloyd ’17 said the Moving Dartmouth Forward plan was designed to look good in media coverage rather than to help solve issues.
Breanna McHugh ’17 said she felt national media coverage makes it seem as if the College has made more progress than it has in actuality made.
Parker Richards, Noah Goldstein, Katie Rafter, Erin Lee, Erica Buonanno, Steffen Erikson and Annie Ma contributed reporting.
