In response to recent controversy about alcohol use on campus, College President Jim Yong Kim has formed the Student and Presidential Committee for Alcohol Harm Reduction last month in cooperation with student and administrative leaders, according to a College press release. The committee will investigate alcohol consumption and policies at Dartmouth to promote student safety, the release said.
"The concern came out of the Hanover Police Department wanting to do compliance checks," acting Dean of the College Sylvia Spears said in an interview with The Dartmouth. "We were very concerned that the compliance checks may result in an unintended negative consequence students in need or friends of students in need not making a phone call for medical assistance."
SPAHRC has been meeting since mid-February, according to the release.
In the three meetings held to date, members established the organizational nature of the subcommittees and began to compile data on "best practices," Spears said.
SPAHRC is chaired by Kim, Administrative Chair Molly Bode '09 and student co-chairs William Schpero '10 and Max Yoeli '12, according to the documents.
Schpero is a former member of The Dartmouth Senior Staff.
Each of four subcommittees instituted to address different aspects of alcohol harm reduction is headed by one senior and one underclassman student chair, both with access to various administrators overseeing the committee, according to the release. The committees will be overseen by an Administrative Steering Committee comprised of Spears, interim Associate Dean of the College Harry Kinne and College Health Services director John Turco and a Student Steering Committee, according to documents provided by the committee.
"Students need to play the central role in helping to analyze policies and shaping the conversation about campus life," Kim said in the press release. "They can also play a critical role in changing behavior in a way that will make everyone safer when it comes to alcohol use."
Administrative and student steering committees decided upon a sub-committee organization that will enable students of different class years to collaborate, Spears said. This will allow students to conduct the research necessary to improve both alcohol education programs and the relationship between the College and the town of Hanover, she said.
"The bottom line is that we want younger students to be involved to allow this process to continue past June," Schpero said in an interview with The Dartmouth. "We want them to provide their own perspectives, which are very important in this process."
The Education and Prevention sub-committee, headed by Alison Peterson '10 and Anne Boguslavsky '13, will develop plans to inform freshmen about drinking on campus, according to an e-mail to members of the Greek Leadership Council obtained by The Dartmouth. The committee will work in conjunction with the Drug and Alcohol Peer Advisor program to implement first-year orientation events and advise students about the dangers of excessive alcohol consumption, according to the e-mail.
Members include peer advisors and students who have taken part in the DAPA program, Bode said in an interview with The Dartmouth.
Inter-Fraternity Council President Zachary Gottlieb '10 and Grace Tiedemann '12 will head the subcommittee on social life, which will focus on the role of the Greek system in the social scene at the College, the e-mail said. Members of the committee, most of whom are also members of Greek organizations, will examine student drinking and the role of various risk prevention policies in addressing these issues, according to the e-mail.
Gottlieb is a member of The Dartmouth Staff. Tiedemann is a member of The Dartmouth Business Staff.
Members of the Town Policy subcommittee, co-chaired by IFC Vice President David Imamura '10 and Ben Chuchla '13, will collaborate with Hanover officials to strengthen the relationship between the College and the town, according to the e-mail. The subcommittee will also assess Hanover Police Department policies that involve student arrests and safety, the e-mail said.
Student Assembly spokesman Will Hix '12 and Jeff Spielberg '10, director of Dartmouth Emergency Medical Services, will work with College Health Services director Jack Turco on the Health Care subcommittee to analyze data on the cost of the care provided for intoxicated students by Dick's House and Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, the e-mail said. Other members of the committee will include students who have worked for EMS, Dick's House interns and students who have completed the alcohol counseling services offered by Dick's House, Bode said.
"The subcommittees are broken up so that you have the most efficient work done in each area," Bode said. "We're working with people who are involved in the [Organizational Adjudication Committee] and [Student Event Management Procedures] reform to make sure that compliance occurs between Dartmouth and the town to create safer practices and encourage preventative measures."
The specializations of the subcommittees will enable them to focus on particular sets of data and report their findings to steering committees, Bode said.
Once proposals are made to change or augment policies, Kim and Spears will decide how best to achieve alcohol harm reduction, Spears said.
"I would hope that we end up with a system in place and a campus climate and peer engagement that represent the best practices for harm reduction on college campuses," Spears said. "It would be wonderful for the outcome to be that Dartmouth students are safer and that there's much less risk-taking and alcohol consumption."
While the committees hope to compile their research and analysis by the beginning of April, delays may be caused by the confidential nature of some data, Bode said.
