This year's Tubestock weekend, though free of any serious problems, prompted many local law enforcement officials to inquire about a means to step up enforcement on the Connecticut River, especially with regard to blatant public drinking by underage students.
Valentin Valkov's drowning last Friday only exacerbated that issue, as Hanover Police confirmed the involvement of alcohol in the incident.
Instead of Valkov heading to Oxford University as he had originally planned, the Bridge students' alcohol-influenced decision-making led to the unfortunate loss of Valkov's life.
The connection between alcohol use and Dartmouth tradition has the potential to destroy the tenuous relationship between Hanover Police, College officials and the Dartmouth student body.
To date, the College and local law enforcement officials should be commended for their conscious restraint from a knee-jerk reaction against Tubestock and other summer traditions, despite the inherent safety risks involved. The fact that administrators and law enforcement officials continue to tolerate these traditions in light of recent events is extraordinary.
Tubestock is a tradition that is essential to the health of the College. It is a manifestation of the "work hard, play hard" mentality of this Ivy League school, in which the two seemingly antithetical concepts can actually mesh well together.
Nevertheless, students should not be so quick to take advantage of the College's cooperation. With the freedom to continue these traditions comes the obligation of students to ensure each other's safety. The onus is on the students to prove to the College that its trust was not misplaced.
The recent drowning only intensifies the necessity of students, not administrators, to take responsibility.
Valkov did not make the nude swim across the Connecticut River by himself. Although the circumstances of the swim made it very difficult for the intoxicated group of students to monitor each other in the water, the swim should nonetheless have been a collective effort to succeed in the challenge, rather than an individual attempt.
While certain freedoms are granted with growing up and leaving home, with these freedoms a greater conscientiousness must follow. If there is anything to be learned from this summer, it is that it is due time for the student body to show more personal and community responsibility.
