Dartmouth's Good Samaritan policy aims to encourage students to act responsibly in difficult situations. Its creation was motivated by a sincere desire to ensure the health and safety of every Dartmouth student. The College, acting as a guardian, gives students the autonomy to make their own decisions, and incentivizes students to make the right ones.
Dick's House is a crucial element of the Good Sam policy; it provides on-campus medical care for students who are not dangerously intoxicated. With this service unavailable at night during the summer, Good Sam calls will most likely lead to hospitalization at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center. Transporting a student to DHMC requires an ambulance -- escorted by Hanover Police -- usually resulting in an arrest for underage possession of alcohol by consumption ("Dick's House limits summer hours," June 27).
This situation creates a troubling predicament for students, who are forced to seek help for peers with the understanding that their friend or classmate will be arrested.
This is an exceedingly difficult decision to make; it is dangerously presumptuous to assume that students will err on the side of caution with such weighty legal consequences.
Without the benefit of Dick's House, students are discouraged from calling for help. The benefits of the Good Sam policy -- freedom from College discipline -- are wholly overwhelmed by the legal ramifications of an arrest.
Summer term underscores the inherent shortfalls of the policy; even during the regular school year students with a blood alcohol content above 0.30 are sent to DHMC and subsequently arrested.
If the College wants to ensure the safety of its students, it has to acknowledge the extent to which the threat of arrest serves as a major deterrent to calling for help, and, as the intermediary between the student body and the town of Hanover, it needs to eliminate any such obstacle.
To protect its own interests and the interests of its students, the College must work to extend the umbrella of amnesty -- should all ambulances really be escorted by Hanover Police?
The College should work with the town to explore alternatives towards the promotion of a healthy community. This is not a question of teaching students a lesson; it is a matter of consideration for their health.
While the policy is overall a reasonable and effective one, its limitations can make it an unattractive option for students -- defeating its very purpose.
