Over the last week, many returning students have been pleasantly surprised by the presence of kegs in frat basements on nights when the fraternity is not registered. This phenomenon is a direct result of the changes made by the Social Events Management Procedures Committee in the spring, which make distributing alcohol easier this year than it was last year. Like the PBR that many of us can now enjoy, the taste of progress is sweet. And like the wait for a game to get racked when there is only one keg tapped, this progress has been slow.
In conjunction with the new guidelines for social events comes an intelligent modification to the Good Samaritan policy that encourages students to get help when they think it is needed without threat of punishment. In regards to these changes, I have heard a few cynics sarcastically say "Hooray for more beer in a consequence-free environment!" I have also heard a lot of non-cynics say "Hooray for more beer in a consequence-free environment!"
The opinion page of The Dartmouth has recently been a sounding board for both sides of the debate over whether or not it is appropriate for Dartmouth students to have fun, or at least have a reputation as such. Our annual ranking as a "beer school" has many alumni worked up, worrying that we'll never be broadly recognized as the country's most prestigious college. "Dartmouth," wrote one concerned alum, "like most of our colleges and universities, trains its 'kids' very well in how to game the system, [but] it evidently has neglected to pose intellectual challenges that are more appealing than the seductions of, say, beer pong."
First of all, I don't think it is fair to classify beer pong as anti-intellectual. Whom among us has not spent hours pondering the desirability of two halves versus a full? There are questions of probabilities, surface areas, trajectories, bruised hands from fist pounds and other very non-anti-intellectual considerations. However, since the intellectual rigor of beer pong may not be my strongest argument, let me get to what really bothers me about the concerns expressed by the aforementioned alum: How dare he question the work ethic of every Dartmouth student by saying that all we do is "game the system," and back up his assertion by pointing out that we are not "broadly recognized" as being on top of another system, which, with arbitrary tastemakers like the Princeton Review, is the real game?
I challenge any member of the greater Dartmouth community to spend a day on campus, listening to students' conversations, and still make claims like these. They may hear two students discussing their art project on the way to the Hop. They may hear two athletes discussing their recent game on the way to the gym. They may hear two drunk guys discussing the hilarity of vomit, but using words so big that they put the kids on ESPN's broadcast of the National Spelling Bee to shame.
There is a plethora of intellectual activity, opportunity and challenge on the Dartmouth campus. Listing the evidence would be a waste of time because it is so obvious. The fact that there are some places on campus where students can go to relax and just hang out is not a cause for concern. It is a cause for celebration.
Students that work hard and also find time for fun are normal. Students that work hard and do not have fun are not students at all; they're robots. If what these "Dartmouth supporters" want is a college controlled by robots, their Dartmouth is not the Dartmouth I want. Robots would not appreciate the "Billy Bob" as being the most delicious foodstuff available in the Upper Valley, because robots' tongues are made of metal and batteries, and metal and batteries cannot taste. The robot on the top bunk would fall through the bed and kill the robot on the bottom bunk, because robots are heavy.
This has all been said before. The campus of Dartmouth College should not be a campus filled with dead robots and uneaten "Billy Bobs." I would imagine that this much is clear to our critics. These critics' concerns are understandable but misplaced. Look for other party schools on other Princeton Review lists, and one finds that this is a special place. There is not an inverse relationship between the amount of beer consumed on campus to overall ranking as a college. Sure, it would be nice if everyone in America thought that Dartmouth was the best college ever and if job offers started arriving the day after the admission packet, but this is not the case. We have a few institutional disadvantages in competing with Harvard and Yale on the rankings list. However, we also have a major advantage: We are not them. We can taste food. And food is delicious.
We still have a long way to go towards the ideal alcohol policy, and in many respects to catch up with the policies of many of our peer institutions. However, the SEMP and Good Samaritan policy changes are good signs of an evolving attitude of the administration towards students and alcohol, focusing on personal responsibility rather than threats of discipline.
