Dean of the College Thomas Crady has extended the deadline for approving the proposed Alcohol Management Policy indefinitely to further assess student input. Crady originally planned to make a decision on the policy this month, but has postponed approval in order to fully understand student suggestions and gather more feedback, he said. The AMP proposal, written by a committee chaired by Dean of Residential Life Martin Redman, was drafted to replace the College's current Social Event Management Policy.
Crady told The Dartmouth in October that he would solicit input from the community through Nov. 15, and that the policy could be implemented as early as Spring term. Crady is now unsure when the new policy will be put into effect, he said.
Students voiced more concerns about the policy than originally anticipated, he said.
"Enough questions were raised about it," he said, adding that he "may get more input after break."
Crady will most likely announce his decision about the AMP proposal -- and possibly modifications to the policy -- in the middle of Winter term. He said that making the decision while students are on campus will help him gain additional input.
The AMP proposal eliminates distinctions between different types of social events, which means that all types of alcohol -- including beer from kegs and hard alcohol -- could be served at any event.
Students are concerned by the lack of restriction on alcohol types, Crady said, because if they are able to serve as much alcohol as they want, party hosts will have to monitor alcohol consumption more closely."[Students] want the College to determine those limits," he said.
He added that the amount of alcohol served does not affect an organization's liability.
"If you're going to serve alcohol, you need to take responsibility for that," he said.
At a Student Assembly meeting in October, Redman took questions about the AMP proposal and heard similar concerns from students. He agreed with Crady's sentiments.
"If [AMP is} about taking responsibility for service and keeping people safe, does it really matter what kind of alcohol you're serving?" Redman asked at the meeting. "At the end of the day, really the issue isn't about how much quantity do we approve, but the issue is if you serve it responsibly to your guests."
Under the proposed policy, Safety and Security would be able to walk through any event that has more than 30 attendees. Currently, Safety and Security can only walk through "open" parties, or events with more than 80 attendees.
Students have raised concerns that the new policy would authorize Safety and Security to walk through organizations' members-only events, such as fraternity and sorority meetings, Crady said. This aspect of the AMP proposal is under review, as there are not enough Safety and Security officers to regulate all events with over 30 attendees on a given night, he said.
Additionally, under the new proposal organizations would be required to submit weekly plans of events and would no longer be allowed to register "on-the-fly" events. Students have taken issue with this new constraint, and both Crady and Redman said it should be addressed.
In light of these concerns, Crady said that approval of the AMP proposal should not be "rushed," and added that "the budget crunch is superceding everything I'm doing right now."
Financing AMP student training once the policy has been approved is also a priority, he said.
"I'm willing to spend as much as is necessary," Crady said. "No crunching for that."
