The College's proposed alcohol management policy a repeatedly delayed set of guidelines on alcohol use at campus social events almost a year in the making will not become official College policy, acting Dean of the College Sylvia Spears announced unexpectedly in a meeting with Greek leaders on Wednesday.
Spears' announcement comes after several campus Greek leaders told The Dartmouth this summer that they had expected AMP would be implemented during Fall term until the abrupt August resignation of former Dean of the College Tom Crady.
At the Wednesday meeting, Spears also announced minor changes to the current social event management policy which AMP was to replace and proposed the creation of a new student advisory board on alcohol policy, which will work to recommend changes to SEMP.
"I think that we need more evidence and information, so that [for] any new procedure or policy that we put in place we could be pretty confident it's going to result in the kind of outcomes that we hope for student organizations," Spears said in an interview with The Dartmouth following the announcement.
The implementation of AMP had been delayed several times since the policy was originally finalized in Spring 2008. Crady said at that time that he would solicit input from members of the Dartmouth community until Nov. 15, 2008, with the goal of implementing AMP during Winter term 2009.
Due to questions about AMP raised by students, Crady later told The Dartmouth that he was unsure when the new policy would be put into effect, and implementation was again delayed.
While Spears said students should be allowed to assume responsibility for promoting healthy drinking habits and to regulate their own organizations, she also said that the College's alcohol policy should focus more on harm reduction echoing language often used by College President Jim Yong Kim in his discussion of this issue.
"I fully support the formation of the student advisory board, announced today by [Spears]," Kim said in a statement released on Wednesday. "As president of Dartmouth and as a medical doctor, I am very concerned about the harmful effects of excessive drinking. I want students to drink less. Students need to understand the impact of alcohol on their bodies and on their minds."
The administration has set up a SEMP BlitzMail account to gather feedback from students, Spears said.
"I think the more input I have from students, the better off we all are in what my decision making is," Spears said. "It's my style to have inclusive opportunities. You can assume there will be other topics that I will want student advisory boards set up for."
The administration chose not to replace SEMP in part because "there were aspects of AMP that students were uncomfortable with," Spears told The Dartmouth said.
Spears acknowledged what she saw as the policy's positive aspects, including the "best practices" guidelines for organizations that are holding social events, which she said she hoped the new student committee will consider.
"[AMP's] an artifact," she said. "There are piles and piles of documents that I think the student advisory board would like to see, would like to review, would like to analyze."
Student Body President Frances Vernon '10 said she was not informed of Spears' decision until Tuesday. Vernon said the administration could have communicated better with student leaders, as many at Wednesday's meeting felt that their work on the alcohol policy was not appreciated.
"We as student leaders feel very invested in the alcohol policy," she said. "It's been a large part of our career at Dartmouth, and an initial reaction among students was to make sure that the work put in over several years would be used to make informed decisions about alcohol policy."
Spears, however, said there would have been significant criticism if the administration had decided to implement AMP or another proposal on Wednesday, citing student objections to certain aspects of AMP.
"In a number of those, there was no student consensus," interim associate Dean of the College Harry Kinne agreed. "Certainly it was taken into consideration that these were issues where students were saying, Whoa,' and we could actually hear sort of a unifying voice saying this isn't something we really want."
Spears outlined several changes at the Wednesday meeting that would be made immediately to SEMP. Greek organizations are now required to register their social events through the Office of Greek Letter Organizations and Societies, while other student organizations will continue to register through Student Activities. Also, in compliance with state law, only organization members who are over 21 years of age will be allowed to serve alcohol at social events, although groups may also employ professional caterers.
Most of the students present at the announcement on Wednesday were not surprised by these two changes, according to Spears, who said much of the debate at the meeting was over the composition of the SEMP advisory board.
"I think people want to see fair representation on the board of those who will be affected the most," Zachary Gottlieb '10, president of the Interfraternity Council, said
Gottlieb is a staff columnist for The Dartmouth.
Amaka Nneji '10, president of the Dartmouth Panhellenic Council, declined to comment for this article. Presidents of several fraternities and sororities similarly did not respond to requests for comment.
The board will consist of a "representative group" of nine students, including members of Greek organizations, students who are not affiliated and students who do not consume alcohol, Spears said.
Vernon agreed that the board must include representatives from outside the Greek system because "the Greek voice is a strong voice, but not the only voice on campus."
The board will be selected using Student Assembly's application process for initiating student committees, although Vernon said students and administrators have not yet decided who would choose the members.
Spears stressed that the committee is commissioned by the Dean of the College, although it will work with the Assembly.
"This is not just a task force that is going to come do a one-shot deal, give me some recommendations and go away," she said, adding that she expects recommendations by the end of November. "This is a board that I want to provide ongoing feedback and recommendations."
Kinne will chair the committee, which will have several ex-officio members, including representatives from the Office of Greek Letter Organizations and Societies, Safety and Security, and Student Activities.
