Dartmouth students are in denial about the drinking problems of their classmates, Director of Health Resources Gabrielle Lucke told the Student Assembly last night.
Lucke said even in light of Massachusetts Institute of Technology freshman Scott Krueger's alcohol poisoning death earlier this month, Dartmouth students deny drinking problems exist.
"The stories I hear of things that people do scares the crap out of me," Lucke said. "I'm surprised that we haven't lost a student to overdrinking yet."
Lucke said Dartmouth denies that some students are alcoholics the same way a family might pretend not to notice a family member with a drinking problem.
"There's really a circle of denial going on," Lucke said. "These families who deny the problem would deny there's a pink elephant dancing in the living room. I think we have a pink elephant dancing on the Green."
Much of the problem is due to drinkers' friends turning a blind eye, Lucke said.
"Sometimes you see a kid passed out drunk on a snow bank and you have to wonder what happened to their friends," Lucke said.
Lucke encouraged students to "watch over each other" at parties and to offer proper medical attention in dangerous situations, so Dartmouth doesn't end up with a situation like the one at MIT.
Despite certain persistent problems, Lucke said binge drinking has decreased on campus.
Thirty-two percent of students drink less than two drinks during a two-week period, according to the Social Life Task Force survey conducted last spring.
But while binge drinking is down, a greater polarity exists between heavy and light drinkers, and it is likely the same people run into trouble with alcohol time and time again, Lucke said.
"How many times have you held their hair as they were vomiting or watched their friends pass out?" Lucke asked. "These people really have problems."
Lucke said she is not a strong supporter of administrative policies restricting alcohol because "students are going to find a way to get around policies. I know because I was a student. It's the nature of the beast."
Unless the social atmosphere changes, students will continue to find ways to abuse alcohol, Lucke said.
