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<p>The problem is acquiring said maturity. The upperclassmen who drink had to learn their limits from somewhere. There’s nothing magical about the age of 21 which makes you suddenly a responsible imbiber. You learn how to imbibe from experience. Greek houses provide a safe environment for drinking, in that they make overimbibing virtually impossible, at least at open parties. There are no such limits in room parties.</p>
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Ridiculous naivete.</p>
<ol>
<li>Upperclassmen in Greek houses and those who want to drink will continue drinking at more or less present levels anyway;</li>
<li>Students who are only marginal consumers of alcohol presently will probably stop drinking altogether (but since they consume alcohol marginally, it poses no threat to them);</li>
<li>Freshmen who presently heavily consume alcohol will acquire it, by hook or by crook, and will face much higher risk of injury or death at private room parties.</li>
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Have you ever visited Dartmouth? This is a ridiculous caricature of the social scene here, and I say this as someone who thinks it’s rather limited.</p>
<p>It’s absolutely correct that the options outside the Greek system are limited. But it’s absolutely wrong to suggest that the only thing Greek houses do is encourage drinking. I would say it’s probably certain sports teams and the frats they dominate which have more to do with a culture of overimbibing, as opposed to the Greek system as a whole.</p>
<p>The way you talk, I’m not even sure if you even drink socially. Alcohol is a social lubricant. Many, if not most responsible adults drink on social occasions. At my last class on a foreign study program in London, our professor bought and served us snacks and wine. It’s perfectly reasonable to serve alcohol at social events. People do not show up for dry dance parties or what-have-you because it’s simply less fun.</p>
<p>Honestly, what would you recommend? Forcing a culture of temperance upon a college campus is beyond crazy.</p>
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How many social events where you are from serve alcohol? Would you tell their organisers that “Adult social life doesn’t have to be that limited,” and urge them not to waste their budgets on wine or liquor?</p>
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The problem isn’t excessive drinking – it’s other things to do with the culture of Greek life here. The only irresponsible imbibers I’ve noticed tend to be freshmen.</p>
<p>People join Greek houses not because they want to drink, though for some that might be a factor. They rush because they want a place to belong to on campus. Honestly, I can’t blame them. There’s a reason that other societies like Amarna and Panarchy exist – people want a place they can call home at Dartmouth, and because of the D-plan, our dorms aren’t it. In a place like Harvard or Yale, your residential college or house is your home away from home – at Dartmouth, it’s your frat or sorority.</p>
<p>If you don’t rush, or choose not to, you need to work doubly hard to maintain your existing friendships and forge new ones. It’s often impractical. Being in a house of any kind makes it a lot easier.</p>
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A lot of my friends don’t drink or drink casually. As long as your daughter is ok with occasionally being around drunk people, she’ll be fine. I’d be more concerned about whether she will be ok with the Greek system here (or the alternatives to the Greek system, like the co-ed houses). Since so many people rush, she won’t stand out at all as a non-drinker, even in the Greek system.</p>
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Should the cops take it upon themselves to hunt down every person who drives even a smidgen over the speed limit, to the point of setting up sting operations on their home? While the analogy is ridiculous, the difference between it and the situation at Dartmouth is one in degree, not in kind.</p>
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That’s all well and good, but until the state and/or federal governments get their act together, the solution for college communities is almost universally to ignore all but the most egregious incidents (i.e. those of clear abuse). It works for every other Ivy and every other LAC. What’s so special about Dartmouth that H-Po has to set up sting operations?</p>
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These freshmen were being taken away from dorms, not from frats. Whenever you hear about an incident at a frat, it’s almost always a case of a fire alarm going off. Private room parties populated by inexperienced freshmen are a recipe for danger because there’s no supervision from experienced upperclassmen and no control valve on how much you can drink. For maximum bang for their buck, room party organisers almost invariably prefer drinks with higher alcohol content than would be served at frats.</p>
<p>Believe it or not, the Greek system isn’t part of the problem, it’s part of the solution. And I say this as someone who is not affiliated and isn’t a fan of most of the frats here.</p>
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You’re completely ignoring the fact that police officers have discretion in deciding how to handle individual incidents. There is no reason for H-Po to suddenly set up sting operations. By your logic, something really ought to be done about all those speeding drivers, and policemen really shouldn’t be letting people off with a warning.</p>
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It’s an event held at East Wheelock, if I’m not mistaken. East Wheelock was part of an attempt to alter the social life at Dartmouth by setting up a dorm-focused alternative to the frats. The problem is that they did this in such a way that they only attracted a particular set of people. East Wheelock is stigmatised as the anti-social cluster on campus, and I would say this is not without reason (though it may be exaggerated).</p>