The College Committee on Alcohol and Other Drugs will hold a public forum in January to discuss College standards pertaining to alcohol and other drugs, the group announced at its meeting last week.
Dean of the College Lee Pelton last winter reconstituted the CCAOD -- composed of administrators, faculty and students -- and asked it to examine alcohol use on campus and look for ways to reduce the role alcohol plays in campus social life.
The CCAOD has drafted a set of 11 "principles" which the Dartmouth community will discuss at the forum, said Associate College Counsel Sean Gorman, who heads the committee.
The principles "should be the foundation of alcohol policy on campus," Gorman said.
"They are not rules or regulations or policy," Gorman said. They are "guidelines" for College policy, he added. "Some of the principles are fundamental."
Several of the principles stress the need for the College community to comply with federal, state and local laws pertaining to alcohol and other drugs, including enforcement of the minimum drinking age and prohibiting the service of alcohol to minors and intoxicated individuals, according to a draft of the principles.
The draft noted standards relating to alcohol policies in student organizations.
"Current levels of alcohol use by students and student organizations frequently cause harm to individuals, disrupt the community and interfere with the College's educational mission," one principle read.
Another principle noted the failure of the current "self-monitoring" system in Coed Fraternity Sorority organizations of enforcing compliance with alcohol laws and policies.
"In three and one-half years, there have been no reports from monitors of a single instance of an organization serving minors or intoxicated persons," according to the draft.
Another principle recommends that the College "should work with students to develop social activities that are safe, legal, consistent with the College's educational mission and not focused on the consumption of alcohol."
Gorman stressed the principles do not address specific policies and are not recommendations for changes in current policy.
"The principles may or may not lead to certain changes being discussed," Gorman said. They are a "group of principles that we agreed upon and the next step is to discuss them."
Next term's meeting will be the first public meeting the CCAOD will hold regarding the alcohol policy, Gorman said.
Pelton reconstituted the CCAOD last winter at the prompting of a Task Force on Alcohol report released in the spring of 1995.
The report said, "the College should undergo a systematic and comprehensive evaluation of alcohol and other drug related issues."
In October 1995 Pelton said the current alcohol monitoring system is not working.
