Before continuing the current debate about the Social Event Management Procedures, we must acknowledge that Greek houses are out of necessity the unlucky hosts of the inevitable behavior of Dartmouth's ubiquitous daytime-scholarnighttime-socialite.
It is easy to overlook the consistently virtuous behavior of Greek houses with respect to alcohol use. For many, therefore, it is difficult to say, "Let us give the Greeks free reign over their alcohol," despite the disciplinary measures that assume fraternity and sorority members have full responsibility for service in the first place.
This Friday at one fraternity party, a guest direly needed medical assistance. The social chair made a Good Samaritan call, brothers left the dance floor and pong tables (blasphemy!) to help manage the situation and members from other houses tried to help brothers make a path for the EMTs. Because competent, responsible individuals were dealing with the situation, an individual who deliberately consumed to a point of dangerous inebriation was saved.
We Greeks have too long been the scapegoat for the juvenile behavior of our guests. Guests, I remind you, who may or may not have the legal right to drink, but do so regardless, and do it with full awareness. Until everyone truly understands the agency of problem drinkers here at the College, Greek life will remain the mystical debaucher of innocent souls. And so, while law holds the server responsible, Dartmouth has the obligation to address the more pragmatic problems associated with alcohol consumption.
To the student body at large: you exhibit behavior at fraternities that directly endangers their success and well-being. Of course, we as Greeks can do more to lead by example, and make sure all of our members understand their jobs as role models and as conscientious hosts. But that is half the battle. College President Jim Yong Kim recently said he aimed to address this problem of negative perceptions of Greek life. Kim, start here: see that we may seem the villain but can act the hero when called to action.
There are legitimate issues that must be addressed: houses are trying to control the service of hundreds of cans of beer because we can't have the environmentally friendly kegs that would make it easier to control distribution. We can only have one keg tapped, and students are consistently pre-gaming events to compensate. Students hide and steal liquor because we can't serve both beer and booze. We become babysitters for students who drink excessively before arriving, seem fine at the front door, then pass out in our living room. How liberating to finally say, "Illegal events are inevitable, and everyone knows it." We shall no longer avoid the very transparency that we need to protect our peers. The comparison to sexual education is imminent.
If we are seen as bars, let us truly act as bars let us manage our alcohol according to our own rules, so that we can truly have responsibility for our service. AMP intended to solve these problems, but included bureaucratic baggage that frustrated student organizations. Let us cut the fat and implement its ideology. We are put on probation despite the irresponsible decisions made by individuals. Probation pushes all of the same risk-creators to the few houses that remain open. Instead of creating a system that lends itself to shutting down available social spaces, we need more prophylactic safety-based measures, especially for incoming freshmen.
So, my request is that our presence as the protectors of our peers, as we always have been, include a greater emphasis on safety, and a lesser one on practically useless regulation. In situations of true danger, the social chair or risk manager should never have to choose between worrying about one untapped, unregistered keg and actually addressing the life-or-death situations upstairs. Often, the fear of probation from a SEMP violation is a dangerous distraction, and even a deterrent from a safety-first mentality.
SEMP intended to "empower and encourage students to assume an active role in the planning and management of social events." If we are consistently treated as liable and disciplined as such for illegal drinking on campus, then let us make the rules that provide a safe environment. Give me 100 kegs, 100 taps, 100 handles and 25 underage guests, and not one of them will die from alcohol poisoning, because I know how to be responsible for service. We need to keep a sharp focus on our peers' health and promote this goal to the extent that the College can understand the realities of our drinking.
