By The Editorial Board
A recent policy restructuring announced by Dartmouth College President Philip J. Hanlon has made waves in the higher education arena, stirring debate about how colleges administrators will combat all kinds of misconduct.
The plan, titled “Moving Dartmouth Forward,” comes after a nine-month study responding to a series of incidents on the Ivy League campus. Among its many aims, the plan announces a prohibition of hard liquor on campus scheduled to begin in March, a requirement for students to attend a four-year sexual violence prevention program, a more inclusive residential community and stricter limits on Greek life. Hanlon, in a presentation last week, suggested a reconsideration of Greek life on the campus as well.
The proposed changes certainly will increase the community aspect of Dartmouth College, and a campus-wide ban on hard liquor (defined as anything over 15 percent alcohol) will make the campus a safer place for students.
Drinking — more specifically, binge-drinking —is undoubtedly a problem on college campuses. Tied in with sexual assault and the dangers often linked to fraternities and sororities on campus, binge-drinking is a systemic problem on campuses that will not be easy to tackle.
While colleges must attend to problems associated with overconsumption, strict prohibition of hard liquor on college campuses is avoiding the root of this problem and could very well end up causing more harm than good.
An outright ban has the potential to exacerbate binge-drinking on campus. As the campus paper, The Dartmouth, pointed out in an editorial, freshman students are already not allowed to consume alcohol. It is against college policy and the law to do so.
“Paradoxically,” the board writes, “students may develop even worse habits than they would have given a greater amount of independence.” In sweeping “their activities under the rug, they may engage in behaviors that are detrimental to their physical and emotional health.”
Secondly, a ban on hard liquor alone does nothing to solve the problems associated with binge drinking. If students on campus want to drink until intoxication, they will use beer and/or wine. Similarly, if they really want to drink hard liquor, they will find a way to fly under the radar. If national laws cannot prevent students from obtaining liquor, how can Dartmouth’s bans be any more effective? Furthermore, this could push drinking off-campus, where it is harder to reach a student in case of an emergency.
The ban on hard liquor is not the only element of Dartmouth’s plan. Other policies presented — including increased community building and interaction, an end to pledging and a four-year sexual violence prevention program — are all undoubtedly positive steps to increase safety and educate students on campus. The ban on hard liquor is the only misstep in leading to a stronger campus community for Dartmouth students.
In Hanlon’s speech, he suggested that Dartmouth’s bold strategy will serve as a model for colleges around the country.
“We will take the lead in American higher education in restoring student life to a safe and sustainable place,” Hanlon said. “We will offer a campus experience that is in every way worthy of our name … that is in every way conducive to the promise of our future.”
We can only hope as students at Fordham that administrators see Dartmouth’s plan to curb drinking for what it is: a headline grabbing but misguided approach, and one that is ultimately unlikely to curb the behavior of students on Dartmouth’s campus.
