"Substantial discussion" of the issue of alcohol was a primary focus when The Board of Trustee Steering Committee met with several groups over two days last week, after which Committee Co-Chair Susan Dentzer '77 said it is clear "drastic changes" need to be made to the College environment to eliminate the unsafe use and abuse of alcohol.
After meeting with the director of a national organization which deals with alcohol prevention on college campuses, as well as members of the College Committee on Alcohol and Other Drugs, Dentzer concluded additional education about alcohol abuse will not be enough to accomplish the goal set forth in the fifth of the Trustee's Principles, which were announced in February.
Dentzer said the environment of Dartmouth must change to one that eliminates "cultural norms" that encourage binge drinking. "It is expected that students who are capable to be admitted into an institution like Dartmouth will not follow the 'boot and rally' environment," she said.
Dentzer again cited survey statistics that 22 percent of Dartmouth students self-report having vomited in a public place and over 40 percent self-report having engaged in binge drinking, defined as more than five drinks in one sitting for men and four for women.
"Simple awareness of a given is not enough to deter this behavior," Dentzer said. "It is only when drastic changes are taken in the surrounding environs that changes in the behavior occur."
Dr. William DeJong '73, director of the Higher Education Center for Alcohol and Other Drug Prevention, spoke at length with the Steering Committee.
Sexual assault, vandalism, fights and assault among students often have roots in excessive drinking and the situation at the College must be changed so that these behaviors are "unacceptable," Dentzer said.
Greek houses, dormitories and off-campus accommodations have all been identified by DeJong and the committee as places where "heavy drinking" takes place, Dentzer said. Dentzer avoided specific proposals to challenge current cultural norms, but pointed towards DeJong's work at the Higher Education Center and his 190 page report, "Setting and Improving Policies for Reducing Alcohol and Other Drug Problems on Campus: A Guide for School Administrators."
DeJong writes in his report, "The goal of a college's prevention policies should be to establish and maintain an environment that will discourage student substance use. If effectively implemented and enforced, these measures will contribute to a safer environment, one that not only reduces the college's risk exposure, but also enhances its ability to accomplish its educational mission."
The report, though written as a general guide, specifically cites Dartmouth as a College under a heading, "Drinking is a Long-Standing Tradition."
"One source of ambivalence is that some school officials see student binge drinking as a long-standing tradition that is resistant to change," DeJong writes in the report. "Dartmouth College is a good example of a school where binge drinking has long been a part of student life. Dartmouth was founded as a school for Native Americans by Eleazar Wheelock in 1769. Until recently, Dartmouth's freshman orientation book included the lyrics to a song, "Eleazar Wheelock," which glorified the mythical role of alcohol in the school's early years. (The Freshman Book 1973. Hanover, New Hampshire: Dartmouth College, 1973.) The song concludes: 'Eleazar was the faculty, and the whole curriculum was five hundred gallons of New England rum.'
"Dartmouth students learned this 'curriculum' well. The college counts among its graduates both founders of Alcoholics Anonymous and the screenwriter for Animal House, a Hollywood film remembered for its glorification of binge drinking. Dartmouth graduate Judson Hale, now the editor of Yankee Magazine, recounted in his autobiography how he was thrown out of school in his senior year after getting drunk and vomiting on the dean of students and the dean's wife."
In addition to DeJong, students representing the Women's Resource Center, students unaffiliated with the Coed Fraternity and Sorority system, members of the College Committee on Alcohol and Other Drugs, led by College Council Sean Gorman '76, Trustees Emeritus Norman McCulloch '50 and Ronald Schram '64 and a group of several alumni also met with the Steering Committee during their visit last Wednesday and Thursday.
After meeting during past visits with representatives of the Coed Fraternity and Sorority council, the committee wanted to meet with students who are unaffiliated, because they were not as well represented in the Task Force proposals.
Dentzer would not provide the names of those students the committee had met with in order to preserve the "confidentiality" of the process. Nor would Dentzer discuss the proposals and suggestions that the students they met with had submitted.
Dentzer said students who appear before the committee should feel free to speak candidly, and therefore, they should remain anonymous. The committee is still willing to talk with any member of the Dartmouth community about any issue they should desire, saying the committee has "an open door."
"There is no way that this process can be considered anything other than open," Dentzer said. Those who go before the committee are expected to not talk about their discussion with the committee, and the committee will not discuss it, she said.
Trustees Peter Fahey '68 and Dentzer will take their current findings to the entire Board of Trustees during their summer retreat in the next few weeks. Fahey and Dentzer will discuss with the trustees "where the committee might go from here," Dentzer said. The full Board's input will set the schedule for the committee into the fall.
