Dartblog

A level-headed guy like AD Harry Sheehy must think that he has landed in the loony bin after the football team’s putative starting QB, Alex Park, was arrested on Main Street for the heinous crime of having a glass of beer in his hand. We, too, are shocked, shocked, as we were when QB Connor Kempe was nabbed for marijuana possession last year by the Hanover Po (the police were called in by the College’s élite Safety & Security force). According to an off-line story in the Valley News, Park was apprehended by one of Hanover’s Finest at 2:16am on July 8. He was 20 years, four months and five days old at the time. Here is his arrest report:

The Hanover Po just will not let up in its persecution/prosecution of students. Sheehy’s surprise must stem from the fact that, while 194 Dartmouth students were arrested for alcohol violations in 2009 and 2010, during the same period, no students at Williams — where Sheehy was AD before coming to Hanover — were arrested for underage drinking. None. Same for Harvard, Columbia, Brown, and Penn. None.

There was a modicum of enforcement during those years at Cornell (28 arrests), Yale (44 arrests) and Princeton (20 arrests), but you will have already done the math yourself and calculated that the total number of arrests (92) in all of the other Ivy schools does not come close to Dartmouth’s total (194). And Dartmouth is the smallest school in the Ivy League.

Addendum: This situation would be laughable, if the consequences for students were not so severe. Many grad school applications ask if you have ever been convicted of a crime beyond a minor traffic violation.

Best of luck with your application.

Addendum: You have to figure that more than a few people — coaches, students, and football recruits — are wondering what the heck is going on in Hanover, New Hampshire. Back in the day, people did not laugh at Dartmouth College.