Correction Appended
The Student and Presidential Alcohol Harm Reduction Committee will deliver its report on student drinking to the administration at the end of April, SPAHRC student co-chair Will Schpero '10 said at the Student Assembly meeting Tuesday. Students present at the meeting also discussed how Course Rank, a class-reviewing web site, will gradually replace the current Student Assembly Course Guide.
The administration and SPAHRC will release joint recommendations on how to address alcohol use on campus after the administration reviews the report, Schpero said.
The committee was formed in February in response to Hanover Police's announcement of undercover compliance checks at Greek organizations. Hanover Police has indefinitely suspended implementation of the sting operations.
SPAHRC consists of four sub-committees aimed at educating students, evaluating College social life, exploring town policies and determining the best methods of caring for intoxicated students, student co-chair Max Yoeli '12 said.
"The majority of our work is on promoting harm reduction," Schpero said.
Over the past four academic years, inpatient admissions to Dick's House for alcohol overconsumption decreased 23 percent, according to Schpero. During the same period, the percentage of those who were taken in under the Good Samaritan policy increased by 36 percentage points and the percentage of those who were admitted to the emergency department increased by 16 percentage points.
"People appear to be more comfortable calling for help," Schpero said.
The Education and Prevention subcommittee is working to determine the best methods to educate students before and after matriculation about safe drinking habits and the medical options available to intoxicated individuals, Yoeli said. He added that the Town Policy sub-committee will evaluate similar town and state statutes, and the Student Life sub-committee will conduct a "cultural audit of the Greek system." The Health Care sub-committee will explore the most effective ways to care for intoxicated students.
Students also discussed the Assembly's decision to discontinue use of the online Course Guide.
Course Rank, a privately-owned company, will replace the Course Guide as the primary tool for students assess their classes, Academic Affairs Committee co-chair Kamisha Hyde '12 said.
"The [member of the Class of 2002] who set [Course Guide] up is the only one with access to the back end of things, and he's become so MIA that we basically had no way of manipulating our own web site," Student Body Vice President Cory Cunningham '10 said.
Course Rank allows students to rank classes on a five-star scale and browse courses by subject, rating and popularity, Hyde said.
The Academic Affairs Committee is working on transferring information from the old Course Guide web site to the Course Rank web site, according to Hyde.
"It takes everything that was good about Course Guide and gives you more options and makes it better," Cunningham said.
Students will be encouraged to review their classes on Course Rank at the end of Spring term, Assembly spokesperson Will Hix '12 said.
Several students raised concerns about privacy issues and Course Rank's business model.
Course Rank does not release students' grades or classes without permission, but the information could be used to create targeted ads on the web site, Hix said.
Schpero is a former member of The Dartmouth Senior Staff and Cunningham is a former member of The Dartmouth Senior Business Staff.
