The College Committee on Alcohol and Other Drugs is currently gathering information that may be used when Dartmouth next examines its alcohol policy, but some members of the CCAOD are frustrated with the committee's lack of authority.
Rabbi Edward Boraz, the chair of the committee, said that CCAOD is currently conducting an "environmental assessment" of the social scene at Dartmouth.
According to Boraz, the committee has focused mainly on gathering qualitative rather than quantitative data. Their research tends to be informal; for example, the committee has gotten much of its information from interviews conducted with students who are members of various fraternities, sororities and sports teams.
Boraz and all other members of the committee who spoke with The Dartmouth said that the CCAOD is not currently contemplating making any major changes to Dartmouth's alcohol policy.
The information that the CCAOD collects will be submitted to a "working group" of students -- chaired by Special Advisor to the Dean of the College Robert Binswanger -- charged with preparing recommendations for policy changes.
The CCAOD's inability to make policy changes based on the information it has collected has frustrated several student members of the committee.
While members of the CCAOD are appointed based on applications they submit to Student Assembly, members of Binswanger's working group are appointed directly by Binswanger himself and are thus not directly accountable to fellow students, according to committee member and Student Body Vice President Michael Newton '04.
"The CCAOD is one of the means and methods by which people believe that student voice is incorporated into Dartmouth policy," Newton said. "As things stand now, the CCAOD is playing almost the role of a scapegoat. Personally, I'm not too thrilled about that."
Sean Oh '04, who is also a member of the committee, voiced similar frustrations.
"There isn't really a need for a group like the CCAOD," he said, as he has found that most administrators already know how Dartmouth students use alcohol.
"At this point, we're just spinning our wheels, and it's very frustrating for students who really do want to get changes," he said.
He, too, criticized the working group's lack of transparency, given its additional power to make policy recommendations.
Other students were less inclined to see the CCAOD's advisory role as a limitation on its influence.
"Getting into it, we were aware that we were never making policy," Mike Curley '04 said. "Our committee simply plays a much different role." He added that Binswanger's dual role as advisor to both groups has facilitated communication between the two.
Student Body President Molly Stutzman '02 said that Bin-swanger's decision to keep the names of the student members of the committee private was intended to allow the student members to take controversial positions regarding alcohol use at Dartmouth without fearing criticism from other students.
It was not intended to undermine the working group's accountability to other students, she said.
Binswanger was out of town and could not be reached for comment.
