Starting Mar. 30, one of the most prestigious Ivy League universities in America will ban all hard liquor on campus. President Philip Hanlon of Dartmouth College announced the decision Thursday as part of the “Moving Dartmouth Forward” program that aims to provide a safer learning environment and alleviate issues of sexual assault and binge drinking that have plagued the school in recent years. Specifically, the plan will attempt to stop the possession and consumption of any alcohol above 30 proof, regardless of age. Garnering the attention of the national media, Hanlon’s decision has been met with both high praise and strong criticism, including a critique from the Managing Board of this very publication.
Many Dartmouth students had an adverse reaction to the decision, noting that the plan is riddled with holes — that it would drive high risk drinking underground, hurt student independence and ultimately fail to solve the targeted issues. The Cavalier Daily’s Managing Board, arguing in tandem with student Doug Phipps’ opinion voiced at The Dartmouth newspaper, asserted the ban would give the University an undesirable in loco parentis role that would only curb the ability for students to make their own independent choices. Still others have praised Hanlon’s decision as a strong first step in finally beginning to tackle the problems of binge drinking and sexual assault, saying most alcohol-related hospitalization cases result from hard liquor overdose. Perhaps the most important aspect of Thursday’s decision was Hanlon’s announcement that the Greek system would not be banned.
The debate to end the system reached a high point in October of last year when 230 of the 588 Dartmouth faculty members signed an open letter calling for an end to fraternities and sororities. That same month, the managing board of The Dartmouth published a hugely controversial piece calling to “Abolish the Greek system” at a school where almost 60 percent of students are affiliated with Greek life. Many students feared Thursday’s decision would announce the end of the entire system, but were left relieved when Hanlon decided against the measure.
And so the broader questions remain — will ending the consumption of hard liquor really do anything to solve the problems of binge drinking and sexual assault? Or is the Greek system to blame, the real issue here being the culture of wild partying embedded in the American college experience?
If anything, flat out banning all hard liquor is not the answer. Prohibition is a tactic that has failed in the past, and nothing will stop it from failing again. Nor should the extreme measure of ending Greek life be taken; such a decision would only further alienate the student body from the administration. Rather than banning alcohol or ending fraternities, I would argue we must seriously begin to reform the general college culture which pushes alcohol onto an undeserved pedestal. For example, take the phenomenon of binge drinking. While not definitely not exclusive to American culture, binge drinking is far less prevalent in continental Europe, where moderate drinking is the usually the norm — so much so that the French language didn't even have a proper term for it until just two years ago. Many will argue correctly that this distinctly American drinking culture stems indirectly from fraternities and their monopoly on booze. Although this point certainly has some merit, it does not automatically imply the Greek system’s relationship with alcohol should be destroyed. Rather, it should be reformed. Already, Dartmouth’s fraternities and sororities are implementing new programs to end the pledging process, a period of time known for hazing and other dangerous alcohol-related incidents. Further steps could be taken to end this monopoly: for example, ending the tradition of primarily dry sororities could help stop sexual assault by allowing sorority sisters to control parties and alcohol consumption. Because fraternities are usually the sole groups on college campuses to have easy alcohol access, they by default become the centers of drinking culture, allowing them to singlehandedly shape the method in which alcohol is served and consumed.
The sad truth of the matter is that the most commonly consumed drug in America is also considered by many students to be a prerequisite for having a good time. For males, the machismo of partaking in drinking games has become glorified, the amount of shots one can down a ranking system for manliness. Pre-gaming, the act of drinking before an event, has become a ubiquitous part of the contemporary American college experience, perhaps only gaining prevalence after the drinking age was pushed to 21. Hazing, hell week, pre-gaming, drinking games — the overabundance of phenomena connected to binge alcohol consumption betrays the fact that American college culture is obsessed with getting wasted. Cracking down on hard alcohol directly will only result in students pushing back. Ending the dangerous culture around alcohol consumption should be the real goal of university administrations.
Hasan Khan is an Opinion Columnist for The Cavalier Daily. He can be reached at h.khan@cavalierdaily.com.
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