Dartmouth's College Try

WASHINGTON -- Dartmouth is giving drinking a new college try. That is, the drinking problem on its campus -- and, by the way, on almost every college campus across the country.

The logical thinking of Dartmouth's mathematician president, Philip Hanlon, is that drinking -- specifically, drinking to health- and safety-threatening excess -- is not going to disappear.

But it could perhaps be reduced. So the headline of the new Dartmouth plan is to go after hard liquor because it gets students drunker, faster, and is the culprit in the vast majority of cases that land inebriated students in the emergency room.

Hard liquor will be banned at campus events, and events held by "Dartmouth College-recognized organizations." (Fraternities, that's you.) Penalties for students found in possession will be increased.

The emphasis on hard liquor makes sense -- as difficult as it will be to enforce. So Dartmouth requires "third-party security and bartenders for social events"? Students ramp up the pre-gaming -- drinking shots beforehand -- that is already the norm.

So pre-gaming becomes dicier in dorm rooms due to the threat of sanctions -- maybe even sanctions on the all-important "permanent record? Students move the fun to off-campus apartments.

Seriously, if these people put as much dedication into schoolwork as they do into obtaining alcohol, they'd all be Rhodes Scholars.

Which is why I was especially intrigued by the parts of the Dartmouth proposal that relate not to discouraging the alcohol consumption but to encouraging both the creation of community and the pursuit of -- dare I mention it? -- learning.

Because this is the conundrum of college students today, especially at highly selective schools such as Dartmouth (acceptance rate: 11.5 percent, 2014). They work like demons to get in -- and then, too often, fritter away too much of their time in an alcoholic haze, or nursing hangovers.

The numbers are telling: Students entering Dartmouth drink less than incoming college students nationally (72 percent non-drinkers at Dartmouth, compared with 59 percent nationally).

But once on campus, they rapidly close the gap. By the middle of fall term, 35 percent become high-risk drinkers (defined as four or more drinks for women, five or more drinks for men on at least one occasion in the previous two weeks) compared with 26 percent among college students nationwide.

At Dartmouth, Wednesdays are drinking nights because that's when fraternities meet. Fridays and Saturdays are drinking nights, obviously. Mondays, ditto, because "senior societies" meet then.

"The fact that students are engaging in high-risk drinking potentially four nights a week has a bearing on their health and well-being; it also clearly affects their level of academic engagement," a committee composed of faculty, alumni and students reported to Hanlon.

Indeed, the report's description of what passes for a party at Dartmouth underscores the inadequacy of cracking down on hard liquor alone. "Dartmouth's social scene is in large part centered around the performative drinking game 'pong,'" it said. "Pong, particularly as the game has developed, encourages rapid and increased alcohol consumption; current versions of the game may involve up to 30 cups of beer on the table."

The committee "also heard enough stories of inducing vomiting to facilitate further consumption ('boot and rally') and competitions to see who vomits first ('doming') to suggest that these are common occurrences. Students also routinely relate stories of having 'blacked out.'"

For this we're spending $65,000 a year?

I wish, as the parent of a student at a similarly selective institution and the observer of her peers at other colleges, I could smugly report that Dartmouth is the exception to the generally responsible rule. Not true.

So some of Hanlon's other proposals make sense, and merit consideration elsewhere: Creating a four-year residential "house" system, with grown-ups (faculty and grad students) on premises, to create community apart from frats. Encouraging service-oriented "gap" years, to develop responsibility. Increasing "academic engagement" -- including earlier Tuesday and Thursday morning classes; clamping down on grade inflation; and upping academic requirements such as writing theses.

One Dartmouth student I know argued that binge drinking stems from too much pressure, not too little. Students, she said, "turn to extreme behavior as a way of releasing stress they confront" -- to excel academically, cram in extracurricular activities, find prestigious jobs. Still, if students can drink this much and maintain 3.8 GPAs, something seems wrong.

"Now, get to class," Hanlon concluded his speech outlining the new approach. That's not a bad message, to college students everywhere.

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Ruth Marcus' email address is ruthmarcus@washpost.com.