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January 10, 2000
Summary
On several occasions over the past two decades, Dartmouth College's Board of Trustees, administration, faculty, students and alumni have discussed ways to strengthen the institution's social and residential system. When James Wright assumed the presidency in 1998, he urged the Board to adopt a comprehensive approach to the issue. The resulting Student Life Initiative launched by the Board in February 1999 was to cover all aspects of the social and residential life of Dartmouth students, graduate students as well as undergraduates.
In the spring of 1999, President Wright and the Board appointed a committee to study the issue. Co-chaired by two Trustees, the Committee on the Student Life Initiative consisted of undergraduate and graduate students, faculty, administrators and alumni, all of whom brought a diverse range of views and life experiences to the group. The Board charged the committee to consult broadly with the Dartmouth community about the strengths and weaknesses of the current system and to propose to the Board specific measures to enhance the system.
As a result, the committee undertook a thorough assessment of the existing social and residential system and concluded that it could be made considerably better. Accordingly, it has set forth a proposed new vision of social and residential life at Dartmouth. This vision builds on many strong features of the current system and proposes the adoption of many new ones.
The key recommendations are summarized below.
Create a greatly enhanced system of residential clusters. The central feature of the committee's proposal is a greatly enhanced residential system featuring clusters (groups of adjacent residence halls and associated social space). Establishing the system we envision will require both new construction and new methods of organization and operation. In order to achieve a sufficient number of high quality on-campus beds, the committee recommends the immediate construction of the equivalent of two new 350-bed clusters. Additional construction may also be necessary. Both new and existing clusters would have major new common social spaces associated with them. These spaces may take the form of "common houses" or, depending on architectural considerations, adjacent common spaces.
The committee recommends a new, active system of governance and programming for the residential clusters. Students would play a primary role, with elected student representatives serving on Cluster Councils and supported by Cluster Coordinators, College employees who would reside in each cluster. The committee recommends greatly increasing College funding for cluster programming.
The committee also recommends new means of student assignment to clusters as a way to establish a greater sense of continuity and stability in residential life. The committee's ultimate goal is for students to enter a cluster of their choosing, either as first-year students or sophomores, and then to remain at least through their junior year. Prior to completion of the cluster construction programs, the River and Choate clusters would be used as first-year housing for about half of the entering class in order to evaluate the merits of first-year housing. These students would also enjoy focused first-year programming in their residences. First-year students in these residences would also have an immediate affiliation with another cluster to which they would move as sophomores. The remainder of each first-year class would be assigned to mixed-class clusters.
Create other spaces and programs for general use. The committee recommends substantial renovation and expansion of Thayer Hall for improved centralized dining service, as well as the addition of a full service dining facility at the north end of campus. Additional smaller scale snack bars and other food options should be established in various locations. A new, lower cost catering option should be provided. Additional and expanded licensed alcohol outlets should be established.
A flexible flat-floor hall capable of accommodating 1,100 seated students should be built, as well as new small-scale arts spaces and new indoor and outdoor recreation facilities.
The committee recommends that a committee be established to formulate a new World Cultures Initiative. The goal is a commitment by Dartmouth to permanent staffing, funding and space to deliver a variety of programs to the entire Dartmouth community that will foster greater understanding of many cultures in our nation and around the world.
Improve residential and social life for graduate students. The committee recommends additional graduate student housing to accommodate 100-150 students and an associated new graduate student center.
Make major changes in the Coed, Fraternity and Sorority (CFS) organizations. The CFS system as currently constituted requires major improvements.
To achieve them, all selective social organizations would be required to meet new, higher standards in order to earn the privilege of recognition by the College. The overall goal of the standards would be to create organizations that would better contribute to Dartmouth's sense of community and that would fully complement the College's academic mission. The new standards would relate to organizational practices, selection and initiation practices, residence and membership requirements, and physical standards for facilities.
Among many other new standards that the committee proposes are these: organizations would not permit group activities violating Dartmouth's Principle of Community; rush would take place in the winter term of the sophomore year; rush would be made less exclusive; there would be no pledge period; hazing, defined in a more encompassing manner, would be strictly prohibited; residence in CFS houses would be permitted only for seniors and for juniors who are officers; residential organizations would have sufficient membership to consistently fill their beds; the physical appearance and infrastructure of all facilities would be greatly improved and tap systems would be eliminated. As a part of new governance requirements, the separate CFS judiciary system would be discontinued.
Major failures to meet any of the new standards (or new alcohol rules, see below) would result in either de-recognition or loss of residential status. It is unlikely that all present organizations will be able to meet the new standards, with the result that the number of organizations will probably be reduced. This reduction will improve the compatibility of the remaining higher quality organizations with the overall campus environment called for in this report.
Introduce new guidelines for alcohol and other drugs. The committee recommends continuous review and improvement of policies to curb excessive use of alcohol as well as use of other drugs. The best possible professionally designed program for education, intervention and counseling would be established and maintained. New rules would be adopted with the overall goal of reducing alcohol distribution and consumption without unduly affecting the responsible consumption of alcohol by students of legal age. New rules would be simple, would apply uniformly to all campus organizations and would be strictly enforced with severe penalties for violations and for alcohol-related misconduct.
Under the new rules, small gatherings of students of legal age would be permitted to have alcohol with no registration requirements. Larger groups would be required to register. Registered social events would require certified servers and would have strictly defined ending times. To check compliance with these rules, Safety and Security personnel would have free and continuous access to all areas on campus, including facilities occupied by College-recognized organizations.
Conduct a comprehensive five-year review. The committee recommends that the Board of Trustees undertake a comprehensive review in 2005 of progress made in implementing the Student Life Initiative. This review should consider, based upon the experience of the previous five years and prospects for the future, whether selective social organizations should continue to be recognized by the College. If this review concludes that recognition should continue, it should proceed to consider whether the selective social organizations should be allowed to continue to offer residence.
Conclusion. The committee is pleased to submit this summary of its recommendations to make an already superb institution even better. We now encourage the Dartmouth community to read the entire report.
- Susan Dentzer '77, Co-Chair Peter M. Fahey '68, Co-Chai
- Allen V. Collins '53
- Thomas C. Csatari '74
- Jesse A. Fecker, graduate student in the Department of Chemistry
- Susan M. Finegan '85
- Mary Jean Green, Edward Tuck Professor of French
- Ozzie Harris '81, Director, Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action
- Edwin L. Johnson '67, Vice President and Treasurer of the College
- James A. Larimore, Dean of the College
- Hillary E. Miller '02
- Matthew K. Nelson '00
- Deborah L. Nichols, Professor of Anthropology
- Ulf L. Österberg, Associate Professor of Enginerring
- Kyle J. Roderick '99
- Margaret W. Smoot '01
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