A "working group" charged with recommending changes to the College's alcohol policy will emphasize educational and preventive measures to remedy problems allegedly caused by student alcohol consumption when their report is released today.
According to a memo sent to Dean of the College James Larimore by the working group and obtained by the Dartmouth, tonight's recommendations will include revising alcohol-related adjudication penalties, adding a policy regarding the role of trained student and other bartenders and making registration of parties simpler.
The group, chaired by Special Assistant to the Dean of the College Robert Binswanger '52, also targeted the purportedly inadequate level of communication between the student body and the administration on alcohol issues.
"The main idea of the alcohol policy shouldn't be something that pits the administration against the students," Binswanger working group member Frank Yoshida '02 said. "The alcohol policy should be something, as stated in the student handbook, for the health and safety of the student body and the Dartmouth community."
The Binswanger working group, formed during Fall term, was charged to develop a report for the administration that would recommend changes in the College alcohol policy.
Specific revisions, which will be discussed during a forum tonight at 7:30 p.m., were briefly touched upon in the memo to Larimore.
One proposal was that the College train alcohol servers -- including students -- on how to recognize individuals who have had too much to drink and also how to overcome misgivings about actually cutting them off.
In response to the Student Life Initiative, a previous working group proposed that a bartender be hired to serve alcohol and check identification at all campus events where alcohol would be consumed.
A proposed simplification of party registration system is also mentioned in the memo. Several Greek organizations have recently been disciplined after the number of people in the house grew to the point where the hosts were in violation of registration rules.
If the working group's recommendations are implemented, the wording of the "Good Samaritan policy" will be altered to expand its application. Alcohol consumption rules will be extended so as to apply to the entire Dartmouth community.
"We believe it is time to forge a more fully integrated approach, one that stresses personal responsibility and is founded on a shared concern for health and safety," the memo said.
The memo also suggested that the College clarify its position supporting the right of those over 21 to engage in alcohol consumption.
After receiving the Binswanger group report tomorrow, Larimore is expected to consider the proposals over the next few months before taking action to revise College alcohol policy.
The group's recommendations to some extent mirrored comments made during an intercollegiate videoconference between high-ranking College officials and alcohol policy experts at other campuses.
All of those speaking seemed to advocate education as a far more fruitful method of addressing the alcohol problem than purely punitive approaches.
Yoshida said that the proposed recommendations seek to make punishments deter dangerous behavior rather than simply discipline students.
"We want to eliminate the more dangerous aspects of the alcohol policy, so that it is not just punishing members of the community," he said.
Like members of the working group, panel members recognized the fact that drinking by underage students will persist in some form no matter what action is taken.
Schools in urban areas confront problems Dartmouth doesn't, such as easily accessibly alcohol caused by an overwhelming amount of bars and liquor stores in close proximity to their respective campuses.
San Diego State University counts among its neighbors over 120 bars in the main entertainment districts of San Diego alone.
Reminiscent of the "social norms" advertising campaigns designed to dispel myths of drinking at Dartmouth, other colleges' ad campaigns have produced mixed results.
At SDSU, an advertising agency was hired to make slogans that were then tested on student groups. After surveys showed that the campaign had no effect on the student consumption rate, the campaign's signature image of a man bending over and throwing up in a toilet was discontinued.
The teleconference panelists acknowledged that unregulated keg beer at parties hinders policy reform, as keg beer is cheaper and easier to distribute than bottled or canned beer. Kegs have been banned at Louisiana State University.
Senior Associate Dean of the College Dan Nelson '75 was concerned about kegs at Dartmouth, reflecting on the administrations failed attempt to ban kegs on campus approximately 10 years ago.
"The reaction to this was not so much that there wasn't enough alcohol around, but that now there's room for one more pong table," Nelson said.
