Correction Appended
The Student and Presidential Alcohol Harm Reduction Committee presented its findings regarding alcohol consumption at the College and proposed policies that may promote student safety to College President Jim Yong Kim and other members of the administration on Tuesday, according to committee co-chair Max Yoeli '12. After consulting with administrators, the committee expects to present its final report at a public forum on May 18.
Yoeli declined to share the details of the finalized report until it is approved by administrators, citing the confidential nature of the information.
Along with Kim, the committee invited acting Dean of the College Sylvia Spears, Chief of Staff David Spalding '76, interim associate Dean of the College Harry Kinne, education coordinator for Dick's House's Alcohol and Other Drugs Program Brian Bowden, director of College Health Services Jack Turco and College general counsel Bob Donin to the meeting, Yoeli said.
In a March interview with The Dartmouth, Spears said she and Kim will decide how to best achieve alcohol harm reduction once proposals were made by the committee to change or augment policies, he added.
The policies that Dartmouth implements should mirror the best programs in the country, Kim said in an interview with The Dartmouth. These types of policies are found at institutions that have experienced an alcohol-related death.
The College should enact policies that address alcohol consumption as seriously as if a student had died, according to Kim, because this way the policies will be as preventative as possible.
A student death would be "the worst thing I can imagine," Kim said, stressing the importance of an alcohol policy that promotes student safety.
The committee plans to present the report to representatives from the Office of Greek Letter Organizations and Societies on May 17.
As current plans stand, the committee plans to then present the report to students and community members, at a public forum on May 19, Yoeli said.
"The administration has been very cooperative and encouraging and I think out of today's presentation will come meaningful results," Yoeli said.
Following the finalization and presentation of the report, a newly-created SPAHRC Implementation Committee will be placed in charge of executing the committee's suggestions. The finalized composition of this committee is expected on May 19 as well.
The schedule for releasing the report remains subject to change, however, according to Yoeli
The 60-page report is a result of over two months of work from student members of SPAHRC, which was formed in mid-February in response to the campus-wide discussion of College alcohol policy. Concern stemmed from the Hanover Police's announcement to enact "compliance checks" at Greek organizations to ensure underage students were not receiving alcoholic beverages. Students responded by arguing that such a policy might push drinking underground, therefore making it more dangerous, and discourage students from using the Good Samaritan policy because of fears of legal repercussions, The Dartmouth previously reported.
Kim stressed that students must continue to acknowledge that the potential compliance checks announced by the Hanover Police "are still on the table."
Students must act responsibly, particularly over Green Key, to ensure that Hanover Police do not decide to instate the policy, he said.
SPAHRC is chaired by Kim and Molly Bode '09, as well as student co-chairs Yoeli and William Schpero '10.
The committee consists of four sub-committees the Education and Prevention sub-committee, the Social Life sub-committee, the Town Policy sub-committee and the Health Care sub-committee which each completed data collection on "best practices" by April 9, according to Yoeli.
Individual subcommittee work took place until April 23 and the final report was completed by May 7.
Each of four sub-committees, created to address an individual aspect of alcohol harm reduction, is led by one senior and one underclassman student chair, both of whom work with various administrators who oversee the sub-committees, The Dartmouth previously reported. This structure is intended to foster collaboration among students of different class years, Spears told The Dartmouth in a March interview.
Schpero is a former member of The Dartmouth Senior Staff.
