Dartblog

Dean of the College Charlotte Johnson seems to be tightening the screws on undergraduate drinking. With nary a wave regarding consultation with Greek houses or other student groups — let alone the folks at Green Team or Brian Bowden, the coordinator of the College’s Alcohol and Other Drug Education program — Johnson has withdrawn College support for Green Team monitors at unregistered parties.

By way of background, the Green Team is perhaps the only initiative at Dartmouth that has had the effect of making student parties safer for all involved. Based on Haver­ford College’s Quaker Bouncers, the student-created service provides well trained, non-invasive monitors at parties that request their presence. The College is not involved, save for covering the minor cost of the monitors’ hourly pay. No better example can found of a student-created and Greek-supported program that is dedicated to harm reduction — supposedly a priority for Dean Johnson.

Supposedly, that is, until now. As of the below memo, it seems that the presence of Green Team monitors will be subservient to the Dean of the College’s tough new enforcement policies. If your party is not registered, you won’t have the support of the Green Team. How short-sighted and narrow-minded. It seems that the “hammer the little bastards” policies that characterized the days of Jim Wright’s Student Life Initiative are about to return:

Presidents,

Please note the following change to Green Team and Party Packs:

Moving forward, in line with the change that summer events be registered, college funds will no longer pay for Green Team to work unregistered social events or for party packs to be delivered to those events. This change aligns our practice and our policies, as all organizations should register their events with alcohol. Green Team, as a student organization, may choose to work unregistered events at the expense of the organization that has requested their services.

Please don’t hesitate to contact me with any questions, concerns or comments. I’d be more than happy to work with you to explore options and strategies to protect your organization’s legacy.

Sincerely,

Sam Waltemeyer
Coordinator of GLOS Educational and Leadership Initiatives

Dartmouth College
Greek Letter Organizations and Societies
Collis Center, Room 215
Hanover, NH 03755
Campus mail: HB 6196
Phone: (603) 646-0467

I wonder how students will react to the latest evidence that the Dartmouth administration is completely bereft of common sense and a thoughtful understanding of undergraduate life.

Addendum: How interesting that Dean Johnson has waited until the summer term to announce these changes. She parrots a good line about consultation and cooperation, but it seems that only the College’s sophomores will get to weigh in on the proposed policies. Why not wait until the fall term to announce these policies so that all Dartmouth classes can participate in the creation of an intelligent harm reduction program? Like the rest of the administration, she just talks the talk.