Although Hanover Police cited an increase in the number of students arrested for alcohol-related offenses since 2007 when announcing their proposed sting operations, students in Greek houses and advisors to Greek organizations say the level of student alcohol consumption has stayed relatively constant in recent years. However, the prevalence of "pre-gaming" and an increase in the consumption of hard alcohol may be creating a more dangerous drinking culture, some individuals said.
"I think the challenge at Dartmouth right now is not that there's been more drinking, but that it's been more concentrated," Geoff Bronner '91, advisor of Alpha Theta coed fraternity, said in an interview with The Dartmouth.
There have not been any major institutional changes that would affect alcohol consumption at the College during recent years, according to Ethan Lubka '10, Greek Leadership Council moderator and vice president of Phi Delta Alpha fraternity. The Dartmouth social scene when Lubka was a freshman was "not that different" from the current environment, he said.
"People's ideas of partying change over time, and it's possible that the new classes just don't need to drink as much," he said. "Social change is a pretty difficult thing to put your finger on."
Alpha Xi Delta sorority President Kassie Archambault '10 said she was "surprised" when Hanover Police Chief Nicholas Giaccone mentioned an increase in drinking on campus.
One thing that may have increased instead is hard-liquor consumption, especially in the form of "pre-gaming," when students drink hard alcohol before attending organized parties, Bronner said.
Younger students may choose to drink more before attending parties because they do not know how easily they will be able to obtain alcohol at Greek houses, according to Alpha Delta fraternity adviser John Engelman '68.
"I think drinking behavior changes from the time you're a freshman to the time you're a senior," he said.
Bronner hypothesized that the increase in alcohol-related arrests by Hanover Police may be indirectly associated to the increase in hard-alcohol consumption.
"If students aren't necessarily drinking more, but they're drinking more dangerously, they're more likely to come to the attention of the police," he said. "[Giaccone] said, I don't really care about underage drinking, I care about underage drinking that's become dangerous.'"
Students are being hospitalized with "astoundingly high" blood alcohol levels, Bronner said, citing conversations with College and Hanover officials.
"While you can drink too much beer and get drunk, the dangerous drinking that takes place the drinking that raises people's blood alcohol levels to dangerous heights is when people are drinking hard liquor," he said.
Archambault said she thought students had become more willing to use the Good Samaritan policy, and that this may be a factor in the rise of alcohol-related arrests.
"I haven't seen the statistics or anything, but I think that students have become more comfortable in calling help for friends," Archambault said. "It's really something that's been ingrained in our students lately."
Lubka said Phi Delt had begun calling in Good Sams if students were dangerously intoxicated in their house, a recent change.
"We definitely did see a step up of Good Sams," he said. "And once we found out that [Greek organizations] could call a Good Sam on someone, which was a little known fact until about a year ago, we started [being prepared for that]."
Students should go beyond the way they currently use the policy, Bronner said.
"When people say they look out for each other, they need to have the courage to say to a friend before it's too late, I think you're done for the night,'" he said. "I know that's a difficult conversation to have."
Dartmouth alcohol policy has not significantly altered student drinking behavior or the way that fraternities approach alcohol management, Engelman said.
"There's sort of a nodding acknowledgement that the College has an alcohol policy that is not followed by the fraternity," he said. "The College understands that, the administration understands that and the students understand that. What students don't understand is that there need to be limits."
Bronner said Alpha Theta has not significantly changed how it views alcohol management in the past several years, but the organization continually examines its policies and has "tweaked the details."
"The general landscape on campus hasn't changed since the [Student Life Initiative] either," he said, noting that the now-defunct proposal to adopt the Alcohol Management Policy would have had a larger impact than current policies.
Giaccone's announcement and subsequent postponement of the proposal to conduct alcohol law compliance checks at Greek organizations have made it more difficult for students to obtain alcohol, Lubka said.
"I would say [alcohol is] harder to obtain now than it had been," he said. "People aren't leaving out alcohol anymore."
