Party packs, the ubiquitous bundles of bottled water, garlic bread and marinara sauce from Everything But Anchovies found in the front rooms of fraternities and sororities hosting parties, may disappear from Webster Avenue this year because of their high cost. Party packs, which cost around $30,000 a year, will no longer be funded by the College, Greek Leadership Council moderator Elliot Sanborn '14 said.. Designed to reduce the risks associated with drinking, party packs have been a staple of registered events at Greek houses across the College since bystander intervention program Green Team was founded in 2011.
The policy change comes as the party packs have become more widely used and as more Greek houses and organizations choose to register events with the College. GLC initially paid for the party packs, but the President's Office began contributing as the program became more expensive. The President's Office now covers about half of the program's cost.
Fraternity presidents did not express enthusiasm for footing the bill for the party packs and GLC did not find evidence that party packs made "a real difference in terms of risk management," Sanborn said. He added that GLC will stay in contact with the Dartmouth College Health Improvement Project, an initiative designed to combat high-risk drinking, to "use the best information available to address party parks and risk management in general."
While Greek house social chairs said they were not sure that party packs had a measurable positive impact, they were widely regarded as being a helpful addition to parties.
Andrew Roberts '14, one of Alpha Chi Alpha fraternity's social chairs, endorsed the party packs' usefulness for moderating drinking, managing risk and even sating the late-night hunger of partygoers.
Zeta Psi fraternity social chair Stefan Deutsch '14 agreed, saying that the party packs' presence was positive.
"I'm not sure it single-handedly led to a decrease in Good Sams, but it was definitely a good thing to have," Deutsch said.
Students said they were sad to see the party packs go and surprised that the costs of the program had risen so high. Zete social chair Brendan Nagle '14 said in an email the costs seemed unreasonably high for such a basic product.
"Thirty thousand dollars is a lot to spend on the party packs, " Nagle said in the email. "The college should be able to find a cheaper option for water and bread."
In the email to social chairs obtained by The Dartmouth, Greek Letter Organizations and Societies administrator Ruth Kett told houses to plan to provide food and water without help from the College while waiting for an official decision to be made.
"As you know, it is in everyone's best interest to have some non-alcoholic drinks and food available so please give this some thought," Kett said.
Confronted with the possibility of a future without cheesy bread, Deutsch said Zete was thinking about providing their own alternative to party packs.
"If we do have money to spare, it would definitely be something that we would want to move toward and have at our events," Deutsch said.
Roberts said Alpha Chi has other policies in place that aim to prevent high-risk drinking and keep partygoers safe.
"For us, during pledge term, you get SEMP trained, you get TIPS trained, and you get Green Team trained," Roberts said, referring to college training for Social Event Management Procedures, servers and sober party monitors. "Even though we won't have the party packs as an option, every new member receives this training, so they are more than capable of responding in an appropriate way."
Sanborn said GLC will continue to work with the Dartmouth College Health Improvement Pack to effectively address risk management in the Greek system.
Ben Hawley '16 expressed disappointment over the packs' imminent disappearance.
"It's really too bad," he said. "I used to enjoy eating the party packs a lot."
Green Team was established in February 2011 to combat high-risk drinking with sober student monitors at parties and, previously, food and water. Green Team members and party packs were funded for any type of Greek-hosted event, registered or unregistered, by the College. After July 2012, however, the College cut off Green Team funding for unregistered events.
