Middlebury Social Scene Revamped

Author: Pierce Graham-Jones

This week, the Student Government Association (SGA) advanced four different programs that are all intended to make the Middlebury College campus more socially attractive for students. These measures come as a reaction to a perceived increase since last year in the number of students leaving campus for social events. As Zack Rice '05, who lives on campus, said, "I don't think there's been a weekend this year that I haven't spent at least one of the nights off campus."

Of particular concern, from the SGA's point of view, is that this increase in off-campus social participation creates a higher likelihood that students will drive drunk afterwards. They hope to counteract this by both discouraging students from driving drunk and encouraging students to participate in social events on campus.

The programs include a proposal that would allow students to eliminate their first citation from their record, an initiative designed to encourage a better utilization of the Juice Bar as a social space, an initiative designating a regular route for the Midd-Rides system and an initial plan for a new drunken driving awareness program.

The most recent of these programs, a proposal that would allow students to eliminate their first citation from their record, was passed by the SGA Senate last Sunday. Specifically, the program is designed to allow students to take an hour and a half long online alcohol awareness program, and in return their first citation will be absolved. Although the program is intended for first-time offenders only, upon implementation there would exist a grace period during which students with one or two citations would be able to participate as well. The proposal will now go in front of the Community Council.

The SGA also announced and orchestrated a revision of Juice Bar policy. Their goals with these changes are, as SGA President Ginny Hunt '03 put it, "to use the space more" and "to make it more accessible and open to student input." These measures entail an increase of the selection of beers available at the Juice Bar, a decrease in the prices of these beers and an elimination of drink limits previously imposed upon drinkers.

Additionally, they hope to encourage student groups to utilize the social space more often by giving them the opportunity to subsidize drinks at the Juice Bar, thus making it cheaper or even free for students attending the event to get beer. For instance, the SGA will be using some of their funding to host a "Feb Farewell" this Thursday, during which the first 200 drinks sold will be only 25 cents.

The long-awaited expansion and alteration of the Midd-Rides system is also related to these efforts and is being implemented this week. The student transportation service will now operate with a set route, continuously circulating through each stop every 35 to 45 minutes. The SGA hopes this will increase awareness and overall student use of the service.

The change that is even more directly related to the SGA's discouragement of drunk driving, however, is the addition of a stop at Frog Hollow in the town of Middlebury.

This stop is located near the bars Angela's and Two Brother's Tavern, and is anticipated to offer an alternative ride home for students returning from these popular student destinations.