The College has clarified and expanded the disciplinary action for violations of the alcohol policies announced by College President Phil Hanlon in late January as part of his “Moving Dartmouth Forward” initiative. Punishments for hard alcohol violations will include college probation and suspension for first- and second-time offenders, respectively.
The changes include harsher punishments for the possession of hard alcohol — defined as alcohol of 30 proof or higher — while punishments for possession or consumption of beer or wine — defined as any alcohol with lower than 30 proof alcohol by volume — will remain effectively the same.
A student found to be in possession of or to have consumed hard alcohol will, for a first offense, face a sanction of College probation, for a second offense, face a one-term suspension and for a third offense, a two-term suspension. Further sanctions will be imposed for each successive incident thereafter.
Judicial affairs director Leigh Remy said that it would be “logical” to assume that further infractions could result in longer suspensions or separation from the College. She added, however, that she does not think the situation will arise in which a person is expelled for consumption of hard alcohol.
“I think Dartmouth students are smart and they’ll make choices for themselves,” Remy said. “I don’t think we’re going to see an increased number of calls that are coming in or reports that are being written. Ideally it’s going to result in a decrease because people will abide by the policy.”
Students providing hard alcohol to others will face a one-term suspension for a first violation and a two-term suspension for a second violation.
Organizations — including Greek houses, senior societies and other College-recognized organizations — that provide hard alcohol to students will face harsher penalties than those currently in place. For a first violation, an organization will receive a one-term suspension of recognition by the College, followed by a period in which no alcohol may be served or consumed on that organization’s premises or at its events. For a second violation, the College will suspend the organization’s recognition for an entire academic year.
If an organization commits another violation in a three-year period following its return to recognition from a previous sanction, it will permanently lose its recognition.
The Good Samaritan Policy, through which students may call Safety and Security officers for a friend and neither the caller nor the subject of the call will face judicial consequences, will not be affected by the policy, Remy said.
The final report from the “Moving Dartmouth Forward” presidential steering committee states that the hard alcohol ban is specifically aimed at reducing medical emergencies that result from drinking.
Remy later wrote in an email that when students review the sanctions for violations of the alcohol policy, she hopes they revisit the data from the presidential steering committee and “remember the people behind each of those 135 visits to Dick’s House or the hospital,” adding that while students may not agree with the approach to reduce harmful drinking, she has not yet heard an argument against its overall objective to prevent alcohol poisoning.
Penalties for consumption of beer or wine have not been substantively altered by the policy changes. For a first violation, a student will be referred to the BASICS program; for a second violation, the student will be issued a warning; for the third, a reprimand and for the fourth, a sanction of College probation will be imposed.
Those providing beer or wine to minors will receive a reprimand on first offense and College probation for a second offense. Organizations providing wine or beer to minors will not be allowed to distribute alcohol on their premises for a specified period of time.
Penalties under the new policy have been laid out in a table online so that students can more easily understand the new policy, Remy said. The table came in response to student feedback following the “Moving Dartmouth Forward” announcement, when some students said that College policy is often written in a confusing way, Remy said.
Remy said that students who are at or above the legal drinking age will still utilize off-campus resources including various restaurants and pubs in Hanover that serve hard alcohol, but she said that she does not think there will be a notable increase in off-campus parties or events due to the policy.
Students, Remy said, have indicated in discussions with her that the change will not be a difficult one to accept.
“What President Hanlon is trying to get at is not a change to language that we’re putting in the handbook, but rather a change to student choices,” Remy said. “It’s not a policy that gets done to someone. It’s saying, ‘here are the guidelines, here are the outcomes,’ and it’s up to each person to decide what they’re going to follow.”
The alcohol policy outlined in “Moving Dartmouth Forward” also includes stipulations about third-party security and bartenders for social events, though further information regarding implementation is yet to be released.
Interim Dean of the College Inge-Lise Ameer said that it is important to look at the research done on hard alcohol on college campuses and the results of hard alcohol bans at other schools. Based on the research, she said the presidential steering committee found that the hard alcohol ban “could make a significant change to Dartmouth’s campus and climate, to transports and high BACs and all the things that we look at.”
Speaking about the “Moving Dartmouth Forward” policies in general, Hanlon said that he is not surprised that there has not been uniform agreement.
“It’s an ambitious undertaking that’s trying to make a really big move in a campus community, and that’s hard,” Hanlon said.
He highlighted the importance of student input and feedback in the implementation of the “Moving Dartmouth Forward” policies.
“We have an opportunity here, and I’m excited about it and would ask everyone to look forward and try to make this work the best it possibly can.”
Tim Connor contributed reporting.
