Alpha Delta fraternity was indicted on two charges of providing alcohol to minors last year, according to the Valley News. AD faces fines of up to $100,000 for serving alcohol to an 18-year-old male on Oct. 14 and a 20-year-old female on Oct. 5. The arraignment is scheduled for today in Grafton Superior Court, the Valley News reported.
The minors were severely impaired when they were stopped walking near the fraternity, but neither was hospitalized, according to Hanover Police Chief Nicholas Giaccone. Officers have issued several warnings in the past months to AD that the fraternity would face charges if incidents of underage drinking continued, Giaccone said.
"They have had particular experiences with us in previous cases were we felt...we would lose credibility if we didn't backup what we [said] we would do if they failed," Giaccone told the Valley News. "There are some organizations taking their role [on campus] seriously, and there are others that systematically fail, and Alpha Delta is one of them."
Giaccone said that AD's past conflicts over alcohol abuse including an incident in June 2011 when two students fell of the fraternity's roof while intoxicated did not influence the current charges.
"If we're going to judge them on prior behavior," Giaccone said, "we want to make sure the new brothers aren't being saddled by previous conduct of previous brothers."
Alcohol abuse and Greek life policy has been a major focus of the current College administration. Led by Dean of the College Charlotte Johnson, the administration began a review of alcohol policies last spring. The College's updated alcohol policy includes allowing Safety and Security to conduct random walkthroughs of fraternities and enacting harsher punishment for houses caught serving pre-made batch drinks, also known as punch.
Former College President Jim Yong Kim also led several initiatives to address campus drinking culture. In March 2010, Kim formed two student committees the Student and Presidential Alcohol Harm Reduction Committee and the Student and Presidential Committee on Sexual Assault which aimed to facilitate discussion and offer policy suggestions to reduce alcohol-related harm on campus. Kim also created the National College Health Improvement Project which encouraged higher education insitutions to address student health problems. In April 2011, the Learning Collaborative on High-Risk Drinking NCHIP's inaugural effort was launched in conjunction with 31 other colleges and universities to combat underage drinking across the nation.