The Robert H. Smith house helps build a community for recovering alcoholic students that allows them to better cope with the pressures of life at Dartmouth without having to worry about the presence of alcohol.
The house, which opened in 1989, provides recovering alcoholics and substance abusers with a "recovery-friendly living environment," said Gabrielle Lucke, the administrative liaison to the students in the Smith program.
It is named after a member of the Class of 1902 who was a co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous.
The students have to be medically recognized as alcoholics, Lucke said. She said the students in the group are well along in their recoveries, and are very dedicated to 12-step programs and AA's 12-step philosophy.
AA's 12-step philosophy has alcoholics deal with their problems in stages, which include acknowledging that they are alcoholics, that they have no power over their addiction and that they need assistance.
The Smith program, like AA, also emphasizes members working together to provide support for each other.
"You get people living together in a community that have a common philosophy with common grounds rules that they are living by as individuals," Lucke said.
Being a member of the Smith group does not involve therapeutic or clinical work, Lucke said. She said students who are recovering alcoholics go to either Upper Valley AA programs or get counseling from Dick's House.
Lucke said she is not sure how many recovering alcoholics there are on campus, but said there are about seven or eight students using the Smith facility. Currently three of those students live in the house, according to Dean of Residential Life Mary Turco.
Turco announced on Friday that ORL will be moving the program to a temporary location during the Spring and Summer terms and to a new, smaller home in the fall.
Amarna, the College's second undergraduate society, will move into the house on 23 E. Wheelock St.
Director of Health Services Dr. John Turco said although there are some students who abuse alcohol at Dartmouth, the number is not significantly higher than at other colleges.
"Alcohol is an issue on college campuses and I quite frankly think it probably will always be because it is a group of individuals who are experimenting and pushing limits, and alcohol is one of the most convenient issues they can use," Dr. Turco said.
Because Dartmouth is such a high-pressure institution, Lucke said many people relieve their stress by drinking. She said this makes it hard for recovering alcoholics at Dartmouth.
"One of the students I work with commented, 'People will come up to you and ask you, "Why aren't you drinking?" like you're breaking the law. Or as if its like some moral code that you just busted by choosing not to drink alcohol,' " Lucke said.
Lucke said the Smith group helps students in recovery relieve their stress and socialize in other ways that do not revolve around alcohol like many Dartmouth social events.
Living in the house provides that social support for the students who are in recovery, Lucke said.
"Being in the house there's freedom from the pressure to drink, like if it's not an option, there's not that expectation," she said.
Although the College owns the facility, there are no live-in College administrator, Lucke said. She said students must agree to be part of a collective living arrangement when they decide to live in the house.
"It's important for that networking to happen for students so they know that they're not alone," she said.
She said students feel more comfortable knowing they are living with others who can empathize with their problems. She added there is a strong alumni connection to the group.
"I think the alumni of the Smith program have definitely been a shining example" of the AA commitment to helping other alcoholics, she said.
Dr. Turco said the College offers many other services to students who abuse alcohol.
"I think we're doing tremendously well," he said. "I think we do as much if not more than most of the colleges I know. Dartmouth has really put money up. It has funded positions."
For example, he said the College hired Lucke last month to be the College's health educator and drug and alcohol specialist. Dr. Turco said at other colleges the health educator position is dependent on federal funding, while Lucke's position is permanent.
He said he was not sure how much money the College has invested in preventing alcohol abuse and helping alcohol abusers, but he said it is a "significant amount ... there aren't many schools that have spent more."
Dr. Turco said the College has invested a lot of money in the "On Campus Talk About Alcohol" program, which encourages students to evaluate their drinking habits to see if they are at risk.
Leaders of the Greek system and several College administrators recently attended an OCTAA conference at the Dartmouth Outing Club house.
Lucke said often the Greek system at Dartmouth will take the blame for students who become alcoholics, but she said it is not just members of the Greek system who drink excessively.
She said that because Dartmouth is in rural New Hampshire, the issue is magnified because all of the drinking is done in sight of the entire student body -no one goes to clubs or other schools to drink.
Dr. Turco also said the College acquired the reputation of being a heavy drinking school in the 1950s, and has not been able to lose it.
"To some degree in the past, some of the traditions at Dartmouth have somewhat perpetuated almost the good side of drinking -the camaraderie or the partying," he said.
Dr. Turco said the College has taken a "very responsible stance" in acknowledging that it should help students with drinking problems.
"I'm not kidding myself to think we're going to totally eliminate alcohol abuse on campus, because it's not going to happen," he said.
Students in the Smith group told Lucke they did not want to be interviewed by The Dartmouth, because a key element of recovery is anonymity, Lucke said.
