College President Jim Yong Kim who has taken issue with New Hampshire's "possession by consumption" liquor laws in the past said in an interview with The Dartmouth on Thursday that he has expressed his concerns on the matter to Gov. John Lynch, D-N.H.
Kim said that Lynch, in turn, invited him to discuss why the law was created with state politicians. Lynch's office could not be reached for comment by press time.
Kim said he has also briefly discussed the issue with Hanover Police Chief Nicholas Giaconne and that he hopes to have another conversation in the future.
The law, Kim said in the interview, may discourage students from seeking medical attention for their friends because intoxicated, underage students transported to the hospital via ambulance are usually arrested by Hanover Police.
Kim said he is troubled by the number of students who have been arrested for liquor law violations, but emphasized that Hanover Police is not to blame. Officers are only following state law, Kim said.
Kim said he will continue to seek advice from experts and study the law.
"I think it's very unfortunate that what many people thought was a good rule, a good law, a law that would be helpful in terms of stopping alcohol use has put us in a situation where there are some really potentially negative effects and this is the possession by consumption law,'" Kim said. "My own understanding was this was done out of a sense of good will and a sense that it would stop underage drinking. I don't think it's had that impact, and I think it's set up a terrible situation."
Kim said the "possession by consumption" law is flawed, describing a hypothetical situation in which a student does not seek medical attention for an intoxicated friend because of worry the friend may be arrested, and that a legal record could hurt the friend's chances of getting into graduate school.
Kim said he was also concerned about the health ramifications of students' alcohol consumption and that, as a physician, he would like to communicate to students more clearly the dangers of excessive alcohol use. Students cannot change the world and become leaders if they are drinking three or four nights a week, he said.
"My message is really clear: I want people not to engage in excessive drinking," he said. "I think it's bad, and it has lots of negative health effects."
Alcohol kills brain cells, and excessive use can cause severe gastrointestinal bleeding, strokes and affect a person's blood pressure, Kim said.
"The 18- to 22-year-old period is a very sensitive period in terms of neurological development, the development of the brain, and excessive alcohol has a definite negative impact." Kim said. "Problems in memory, problems in learning have been documented after excessive drinking, so I'm concerned just in terms of performance."
Kim added that he prefers the term "excessive drinking" rather than "binge drinking" because binge drinking suggests there is a clear cutoff between excessive and non-excessive consumption of alcohol.
Kim did not outline any changes he would like to make to the College's alcohol policy in the interview, but said he hopes the recently announced Student Event Management Procedures advisory committee will help inform the College's policymaking process.
"I wanted to know about every single innovative, potentially effective policy anywhere in the United States and the world," he said, referring to his conversations with acting Dean of the College Sylvia Spears about whether to implement the proposed alcohol management policy. "I believe in execution around social goals, and the social goal here is to try and keep people safe. We hadn't gone around and looked at every college and university and gotten some sense of what the most enlightened and effective policies were. Until we know that, we were going forward with the policy as is."
Kim said he is still considering whether to sign on to the Amethyst Initiative, a movement of college presidents who seek to lower the drinking age from 21 to 18. The initiative was supported by former College President James Wright.
