Dartblog

Dartmouth students can be really impressive. David Imamura ‘10 and Eli Mitchell ‘10 spoke calmly and thoughtfully last night to a Selectboard that seemed to not have expected the whirlwind that Chief of Police Giaccone unleashed on Thursday. Their comments came at the start of the Selectboard meeting, a time traditionally open to remarks from the floor on any issue of moment.

Imamura cited numerous studies and spoke firmly about the need for the Hanover Police to hold off on implementing its recent racheting up of underage drinking laws enforcement. He cited with particular effect the experience of Hamilton College, where drinking was driven underground by harsh enforcement, with the result that drinking increased and the risk to student health did as well.

Mitchell spoke from the additional perspective of a Town resident, and invoked the concern that Hanover Po’s policies would drive student parties into private houses in Hanover neighborhoods.

The College’s alumni didn’t do badly either, with AD advisor John Engelman ‘68 and your humble servant weighing in. Engelman noted that students will drink no matter what the strategies of the police, and that student safety was paramount. I noted the experience of other colleges and universities, citing the fact, as I have observed on Dartblog, that there were more police arrests of students for alcohol violations in Hanover in 2006-2008 (212) than in all of the other Ivy League towns combined during that period (169). I asked the Selectboard to examine the policies of other schools with the view to leaving the enforcement on the underage drinking laws in the hands of the campus police.

Selectboard Chairman Brian Walsh and the other Selectmen listened attentively, but Walsh noted that the Board could not formally take up the police enforcement issue until a Selectboard meeting in mid-March or even April. The Town is currently deep in its annual budget process. He warmly welcomed the offer of students to work cooperatively with the Town Police and the Selectboard, but he repeatedly lamented the fact that students so frequently over-indulge that they need medical assistance and run the risk of alcohol poisoning.