More freshmen have been brought before the Office of Undergraduate Judicial Affairs this year than students from the Class of 2009 during the same time period last year, according to April Thompson, the director of UJA.
In September, UJA cited 20 freshmen for disciplinary infractions. Of those 20 resolved cases, 16 involved alcohol use and eight resulted in a Good Samaritan call. In September 2005, there were only 12 resolved freshmen cases, all of which involved alcohol use and two of which involved a Good Samaritan call, Thompson said.
However, when The Dartmouth asked College Proctor Harry Kinne about the number of freshmen who have been apprehended by Safety and Security or involved in a Good Samaritan call, he said these numbers were not available because the data is not organized by class, but instead by incident type.
"Safety and Security has increased its patrols recently in response to the high number of alcohol-related incidents," Kinne said. "While I think [the Class of 2010] is a pretty active group, this activity fluctuates from year to year. I remember [the Class of 2006] was also fairly active."
Many administrators feel that it is not unusual for freshmen classes to represent the majority of alcohol incidents on campus.
"In most terms, especially the Fall term, the high number of alcohol-related cases do involve first-years. This may be due to the fact that they are less experienced in dealing with alcohol, are enjoying the freedom of being away from parents, or are just experimenting," John Turco, the director of College Health Services, explained.
Undergraduate advisors, particularly in the Choates residence cluster, said they have been told that this year's numbers are higher than the previous two or three years to date.
"Any information that has been communicated to the cluster staff has relayed that there has been an increase in the total number of incidents involving Safety and Security," said Melissa Lokensgard '09, who is a UGA in Little hall.
Choates Community Director Kristin Deal refused to comment on the number of violations in her cluster, but students and UGAs said that Choates residents have been apprehended by Safety and Security more often than students in other clusters.
"I can't compare the [Class of 2010] to other classes, but there have been a lot of pickups and Good Sam calls, especially in the Choates," Bissell hall UGA Jean Valkevich '08 said.
Some residents offered anecdotes about their opinion of a different social atmosphere in the Choates cluster.
"People go out definitely Friday, definitely Saturday and then maybe two more times during the rest of the week," said Allie Miller '10, who lives in Brown hall. "Because we are so close to frat row it is definitely more likely that someone is going to go out at random hours just because they can come back at random hours. I've talked to people in McLaughlin [residence cluster] and people in East Wheelock [residence cluster] and it seems a lot less likely that they would submit themselves to this kind of culture."
Lokensgard, however, said that it was unfair to place all the blame on the Choates cluster for the increase in Safety and Security violations since many factors contribute to these overall statistics.
Dean of First-Year Students Gail Zimmerman also said that the statistics gathered from September do not point to a significant increase from previous years.
"It is much too early to tell anything related to this issue, as we are only two weeks into the term and I am very hesitant to say whether there is an increase or decrease," Zimmerman said.
Even if these trends existed, the College would not have the data to support them, she said.
"We've never tracked alcohol violations by cluster, so it would be impossible to know whether that is true. I think students who want to drink, regardless of where they live, will visit party locations," Zimmerman said.
Thompson noted that the Good Samaritan policy, which was liberalized in June 2005, allows students to call Safety and Security for assistance with intoxicated peers without disciplinary repercussion for either party involved. This may have contributed to the higher number of incidents that resulted in Good Samaritan calls this year, she said.
"This shows that Good Sam works and that students should call if they are ever in doubt," Thompson said.
