Last Saturday, a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity made a Good Samaritan call for another Dartmouth student who was dangerously intoxicated. Rather than commend the brother, the Hanover Police Department pressed felony charges against SAE for enabling underage drinking charges that could cost $100,000 ("Good Samaritan call prompts SAE charge," Oct. 7). With this action and the additional charges against three other Greek houses in the last week the police have crippled, perhaps irrevocably, the one consistently positive element of the College's alcohol policy, the one that is essential to keeping students safe.
Use of the Good Sam call by students has steadily increased as it has continued to be championed by College administrators. In May, the Student and Presidential Alcohol Harm Reduction Committee recommended that the College go even further to eliminate concerns of administrative or legal consequences for placing a Good Sam call. Although students should not consume alcohol to the point that a Good Sam call is necessary, realistically, they will likely continue drinking to such levels of intoxication. While the report by SPAHRC provides suggestions that might reduce dangerous drinking, none of SPAHRC's recommendations have been implemented to date. Thus, unfortunately we cannot judge their effectiveness.
The recent actions of Hanover Police suggest that they do not realize the importance of the Good Sam policy to students' lives. Hosts who should be watching for dangerously drunk individuals will now be estimating the legal punishments incurred from reporting such behavior ("Students respond to SAE charge," Oct. 8).
College President Jim Yong Kim seemed to think the local authorities were on the same page with him when he told the Class of 2014 that they "are working very closely with the Hanover Police Department to get this right. We sit over the table and worry about if we're going to lose one of you." ("Kim addresses alcohol and assault," Sept. 22)
Once again, we're waiting to hear back from Kim on what precisely he plans to do to ensure Dartmouth students' safety this weekend.
As we've previously stated, if Greek houses shut their doors to avoid the risk of legal consequences, students will inevitably find more remote, underground ways to engage in the same behavior, further increasing the likelihood of serious tragedy ("Drink Free or Die," Feb. 5). If College administrators and student leaders cannot work with Hanover Police to come up with policies that prioritize harm reduction over punishing students, the danger facing Dartmouth will continue to escalate.
On Wednesday, Hanover Police Chief Nicholas Giaccone told the Union Leader apparently a more important audience than the Dartmouth community, as he has yet to give an interview to The Dartmouth or the Valley News this week "It's going to take someone dying. I'm afraid that's going to be the only thing that will wake some of them up."
Will it also take the same tragedy for Hanover Police to wake up?
