Dartmouth worries about alcohol and its effects on campus life. When students act to address those concerns, all parts of the College should rally behind them.
Students and administrators cite alcohol as their greatest concern about the Greek system. Health Services points to the harms of binge drinking. Safety and Security guards against reckless drunks destroying property and hurting people. With all of this concern coming from the community, all of its members should support realistic, effective solutions.
The '96 Class Council offers one such solution. By hosting Senior 'Tails, the Council encourages responsible drinking in an adult social atmosphere. The Council holds 'Tails in Common Ground, Top of the Hop, and Alumni Hall -- the antithesis of the oft-derided "frat basement." Cocktails and appetizers are served along with free soda for those not interested in drinking alcohol.
To their credit, Deans Lee Pelton, Holly Sateia, Syliva Langford, and Kate Burke actively encourage the class to foster such responsible drinking environments, both as an alternative to other campus drinking environments and as a place where students can learn to drink and interact responsibly.
Unfortunately, their colleagues in other offices of the College fail to understand the value of Senior 'Tails. Instead, they act to undercut its value and engage in self-serving profiteering at the expense of the student-funded Class treasury. The Dining Services Staff at Collis, led by Cynthia Crutchfield and Pete Napolitano, works against the Class Council's two primary goals for Senior 'Tails--to include all members of the Class regardless of age and to foster a responsible drinking environment.
After significant cajoling from the Council and the Deans, Crutchfield and Napolitano finally allowed the 11 members of the Senior Class who are not yet 21 to attend 'Tails. However, the ludicrous restrictions imposed on the event worked against Council goals.
The first plan developed by Crutchfield involved a "drinking corral." Students of any age could attend, but anyone 21 or over who chose to drink would have to be contained in a separate, enclosed, heavily-monitored section of Common Ground -- a plan DDS undoubtedly uses when catering weddings and bar mitzvahs. The Council planned to cancel the event rather than subject the class to such a degrading scheme. The accommodation finally reached with Dining Services was somewhat better, but still defeats the purposes of the Council.
The single "incident" at last Thursday's 'Tails best demonstrates the point. Four of the event staff, including Safety and Security officers converged on a 21-year-old student who had finished his third allowed drink and sipped his girlfriend's wine. This clearly dangerous event required a Safety and Security officer to call for backup. Before the incident ended, six officers were on the scene.
Actions like this send a strong message to students. "We don't trust you. Go drink in frat basements where we're not watching." I am certain that this message does not come from the Dean's Office, but rather from the same people who would like to exclude those under 21 altogether.
In fact, for all intents and purposes, Crutchfield and Napolitano did just that. They would not allow under-age, out-of-town guests to accompany seniors to 'Tails. Effectively that means that, at most, 11 under-age students may have been in attendance.
Despite the few under-age students that may have been in attendance, Crutchfield required the Council to pay for five bartenders, four ID-checkers, at least two supervisory personnel, three Safety & Security officers, and 10 student monitors. Two of the five bar set-ups went all but unused, so over 20 people were available to watch over student activity. Such a system says a great deal about the trust placed in students.
The significant expense involved undercuts the goals of the Class Council in one more way. Every dollar spent on unneeded personnel will not be spent on non-alcohol related programming or the creation of more responsible drinking environments in the future.
The College should have a coordinated strategy toward alcohol. It must encourage responsible drinking in positive social environments. Only in following the lead of the deans can the Dartmouth Community have a realistic and effective policy towards drinking.
