The Ad Hoc Working Group on Alcohol Policy introduced guidelines for revising the College alcohol policy to an inquisitive yet receptive crowd last night, ultimately placing increased responsibility on students to create a safer environment for alcohol consumption.
The guidelines emphasize clarity in policy bylaws and cooperation between the student body and College administration, with a practical focus on educating the student body on the policy and safe drinking habits.
Salient revision proposals include replacing the current policy of "registering" social events with a large-scale "reservation" system, training student alcohol servers, expanding Safety and Security's responsibilities on campus, and liberalizing the "Good Samaritan" policy.
Members of the committee, chaired by Robert Binswanger, maintained that the guidelines, which will appear in all student Hinman Boxes and on the Dartmouth website, comprise a "work in progress." The guidelines will be submitted to the faculty in approximately three weeks, after the report is revised according to student feedback.
Suggesting specific revisions in the purportedly confusing diction of the alcohol policy, the guidelines seek to clarify and universalize the policy for all students enrolled on the Dartmouth campus. Currently, rules vary for different types of settings and participants in violation of College policy.
"What we have now are existing rules that can't be followed and aren't being followed," Binswanger said.
The guidelines also plan to assuage the inadequate level of trust perceived by the committee between the administration and students, which hinders the cooperation necessary to produce a policy that satisfies both parties.
The guidelines propose replacing the three-tier "registration" system for parties with a broad and simpler "reservation" system encompassing more types of social gatherings. Enclosed in the report is a model form that a party host would have to send by email or postal mail to an agent under the auspices of Safety and Security in order to register any type of social gathering, including events in residence halls.
Safety and Security would not be mandated to observe or check into any of these parties. The committee members intend the reservation system to keep Safety and Security informed as to where large groups of students may convene. Spontaneous parties can be reserved while in progress, although action may be taken against hosts who abuse this policy.
One audience member was asked whether or not there would be an incentive for students to "reserve" parties, a problem that committee members said would be alleviated by a trusting relationship between students and the administration.
"I think its a pretty sound and reasonable policy," Sigma Epsilon fraternity President Patrick Granfield '03 said. "It definitely puts the onus on the students to make it work."
The guidelines also propose that the College train student alcohol servers to tend bar in appropriate contexts. Students would be taught how to recognize intoxicated individuals and deny giving them more alcohol.
Committee member Frank Yoshida '02 responded to audience concerns on available manpower to conduct some of the proposed changes.
"I hope the College takes us up to hire some more Safety and Security officers, and to hire some more logistical professionals that will help this move as smoothly as possible," he said.
Revisions of the underused "Good Samaritan" policy attempt to increase the amount of students who use it. Names of students who assist other intoxicated students in need of medical attention will be recorded by Safety and Security and Dick's House, but they will not relayed to their respective dean.
There would be no set number of interventions that would require a dean's action, but health and safety authorities would have the discretion to notify the deans of a student who repeatedly violates the alcohol policy.
The committee members believe it is essential to promote awareness among a student body that is largely ignorant of College alcohol policy, which was reflected by the overwhelming majority of audience members who acknowledged that they had never read the alcohol policy prior to yesterday's announcement.
The guidelines also hope to hasten the adjudication process for alcohol policy violations and broaden the terms used to guide punishments.
Binswanger said that Student Assembly will be facilitating student discussions on the proposal over the coming weeks. Recommendations can be emailed to the Dean of the College.
Once the final version of the proposal is approved by the administration, the policy will undergo a one-year trial period, according to Committee member Lindsay Orchowski '03. The results will of the policy will be analyzed and further recommendations will be made at the appropriate time.
