Although the Coed Fraternity Sorority Council created a stricter Social Events Policy two years ago, most Dartmouth students and administrators are now quick to admit that getting around alcohol policy regulations is fairly easy -- and the drinking culture at the College remains virtually unchanged.
"We've gotten really good at writing policies with loopholes," CFSC President Jaimie Paul '00 told The Dartmouth recently.
"I just think that students love their social life here," Paul said. "They love a certain type of social life. They've gotten great at addressing administrators' needs while allowing the status quo to persist."
The newest version of the CFS alcohol policy, which was created in response to recommendations from the College Committee on Alcohol and Other Drugs, sets regulations for the number of students that can be present at any given social event as well as the amount and type of alcohol that can be served.
It also guarantees that Safety and Security monitoring teams will be permitted immediate entrance into CFS events on a routine basis and assures that all kegs will be registered and tagged.
But many community members acknowledge that despite the more stringent policy, the drinking culture at Dartmouth has not undergone significant change since the new guidelines were imposed.
Senior Associate Dean of the College Dan Nelson, who has been at Dartmouth since 1987, said he has witnessed the effects of many changes to the alcohol policy.
"I think that we know that some organizations work actively to get around the alcohol policy and violate its provisions," he said. "Other organizations don't."
He said he thinks there have been some "incremental changes" that have resulted in "incremental improvements." But he said there is still much progress that has yet to be made.
"I think there are examples of student organizations, both Greek and non-Greek that take pride in the fact that their social life doesn't revolve around high risk drinking, but we all know that there are some other social organizations that take pride in the opposite," he said.
Dean of Residential Life Martin Redman said he would not be surprised if certain students at Dartmouth tried to get around the alcohol policy.
"The issue here is how committed the organizations are to keeping to what they're saying," he said. "If they're committed to that, then loopholes become irrelevant. It really gets down to whether people are in agreement with what they're trying to accomplish."
He said he has only been on campus since the summer, but it seems to him that houses are slowly moving towards following the regulations set by the CFS Events Policy. He added that he thinks the recent scrutiny of the Steering Committee has pointed out that certain changes need to be made in the system.
Among fraternity presidents and students in general, there was no clear agreement on whether alcohol attitudes on campus had changed as a result of the new alcohol policy.
President of Kappa Kappa Kappa fraternity David Luckenbach '00 said he thinks there are fewer parties now than there were when he was a freshman, but at the same time, he said the drinking scene at the College has not changed much in his time here.
"People can't really go to a party sober anymore and leave drunk," he said. "I think it's really hard to get drunk at a party unless you come drunk. I think that's what a lot more people do now."
He said the new tags used to mark kegs has significantly changed the way Greek parties operate.
Officer Robert Young -- who monitors Greek parties on weekend nights in a team with a student monitor -- agreed.
"You have to take cutters to them to get them off," he said about the new tags. "They are absolutely tamper proof."
CFS Social Events Manager Chris Burnett '01 said the impetus for the new tags came from Deborah Carney, who is the advisor to the CFSC and sits on the Judicial Committee, which meets on a weekly basis to assess fines and punishments to houses that have violated the policy. He said with each revision to the policy, it becomes less lenient.
"I think the penalties have gotten a lot more severe," he said. "And also people have gotten a lot more serious. People don't want to lose their house. It's very easy to lose your house by having an unregistered party or doing something stupid."
However, at the same time, most students who frequent fraternities and sororities on campus said they have little trouble recalling the last example of when the alcohol policy was violated.
In an article published in The New York Times on Nov. 7, President of Alpha Chi Alpha fraternity Sebastian Barreveld '00 said, "This is all show. [Officer Young] knows that and we know that. It's easy to change the tags on the kegs. I mean, we've got 12 more kegs downstairs."
All freshmen who talked to The Dartmouth said they do not have much trouble getting into Greek parties. During the Fall term, freshmen are not allowed into parties where alcohol is present.
One '03 said he typically goes to fraternity parties about two times per week. When asked whether they had beer on tap at weeknight unregistered parties, he said yes, and sounded surprised that this practice was a violation of CFS policy.
Another '03 said it is sometimes difficult to get into registered social events. He said he finds it easier to go to unregistered parties.
"They're always really nice and stuff," he said. "They don't need enemies in the '03 class. They want to be nice to us."
But David Dexter '00 -- both a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity and a student monitor who patrols CFS parties with Safety and Security -- said it has become increasingly difficult for freshmen to get into parties.
However, he added that the accessibility of parties to freshmen depends on the organization hosting the event. He also said he thinks the number of illegal kegs that have been discovered has declined.
He said when the monitoring teams enter houses they tour the ground floor, the basement and the house grounds, using a checklist to make sure the house is following CFS regulations.
Sam Desai '00, who is also a student monitor and a member of SAE, said the patrol teams visit Tier-Two parties -- closed social events where alcohol is present with no more than 400 guests -- once per night and tier three parties -- open parties where alcohol is present -- twice over the course of an evening.
He said the times of the visits usually come between 11 and 11:30 p.m. and 1 and 2 a.m., but this can vary when there are more parties on any given night.
Dexter said he could see how houses could use extra kegs or otherwise violate the policy after the allotted inspections had been completed.
Additionally, Desai said that like many students on campus, he knows about events like Zeta Psi fraternity's popular "'Tails" on Thursday nights, where hard alcohol is often served. He said, however, that the event is not inspected because it falls under "Tier One," which is the classification for events that involve only the membership of a specific house.
However, he said the teams do not "necessarily overlook" violations.
Paul acknowledged that the newest version of the alcohol policy is not fully effective in promoting the safe use of alcohol, but she said she thinks it is possible to work within the existing structure of the Greek system to create a better social scene at Dartmouth.
"Until we change the way people think about alcohol and their bodies and gender, these problems will continue to persist," she said.
Nelson said he is not surprised that the changes to the policy have not been completely effective.
"The issue is less one of policy and more one of institutional culture and values," he said. "I think the real question is to what extent are individuals and organizations at Dartmouth prepared to manage alcohol in a way that's responsible."
