ADP violates pledge policy Alcohol violation postpones pledge process

Author: Kathryn Flagg

Social house pledge events ground to a halt last week after College employees found and reported 14 30-rack cases of beer in Alpha Delta Phi (ADP). The cans were used as evidence of an unregistered party at ADP and shed light on a pledge violation. While pledge resumed this Tuesday for the majority of the social houses, the Inter-House Council (IHC) has placed ADP on probation until January.

While house members, social house leaders and some administrators have indicated that the violation was an isolated event, the violation has raised questions regarding the role of alcohol in the pledge process. Current College policy requires that all pledge events be dry, but the incident has caused some concern among students and administrators that such policy is not truly obeyed.

With pledge and rush benefiting from an upswing in numbers this year for all social houses, most members of the houses have dismissed the ADP pledge violation as a small hitch in an otherwise successful season. But, in the wake of campus-wide discussions about alcohol policy and underage drinking, the violation has renewed interest in reviewing policy and examining social house practices.



ADP Under Fire



"It came to the attention of several people in the College administration that there had been an event at ADP with lots of alcohol," said Dean of Student Affairs Ann Hanson, one of the key administrators responsible for handling the incident. College employees, who are required to report any noticeable evidence of an unregistered party, notified College officials regarding the empty racks of beer on Nov. 15 - sparking immediate inquiries from administrators and the social houses' self-governing IHC.

"It was the football team's first week off," explained President of the IHC Lauren Battaglia '06 in an interview with The Middlebury Campus. According to Battaglia, the team, in its immediate off-season, is "notorious for having parties."

"They had an unregistered party downstairs in the basement of ADP," she continued. "And at the same time there was a pledge event going on. It was their lock-in period, which is a 24-hour pledge event. Because there was an unregistered party at the same time as this pledge event, essentially there was alcohol at a pledge event. That's where the problem came in."

According to Hanson, "One of the absolute bottom lines of pledge is that there is to be no alcohol with pledges." Houses, she explained, are responsible each for submitting a pledge plan to a subcommittee of Community Council for review. The plans, which are to fully disclose the houses' pledge agendas, are then evaluated by the small, confidential committee.

"The process is confidential so that the houses can have privacy and protect their traditions and practices," said Hanson, "but there needs to be total disclosure to make sure that pledge is safe." The process was developed, said Hanson, in agreement with the IHC. During this process, said Hanson, houses are made very aware that the use of alcohol is prohibited at pledge events, and that alcohol violations are among the most severe a house can commit during this time.

"Anything that appears that might be forced - forced drinking or hazing - is something that we're all very concerned about," said Hanson.

Following news of the violation, the IHC questioned members of the social house and prepared a recommendation for reprimand that was subsequently presented to Hanson and Director of the Center for Campus Activities and Leadership Doug Adams. This first proposal was initially rejected. The IHC met again last week and determined that, while pledge should resume for other social houses, ADP would be put on probation until the end of J-Term. Pledge will continue for the house at the end of January, and until then, the house is not allowed to have any registered or unregistered parties.

Hanson and Adams, according to Battaglia, "felt that [the IHC's] first punishment wasn't appropriate enough." Battaglia noted, however, that the difference between the first and second recommendations was "essentially just a difference in length of probation."

On the whole, according to Hanson and Battaglia, ADP members were cooperative with the inquiry.

"We've all been trying to figure it out," said Battaglia. "No one really likes putting anyone on probation. ADP essentially acknowledged the fact that they had made a mistake coinciding the two events."

"I think this was just a very isolated case," she continued. "It was just really a complete mistake on their part."

But according to Hanson, there was some disparity among ADP members regarding the use of alcohol in pledge. "Depending on who you talk to, there were a variety of stories," she said. "There was some acknowledgement that some of the pledges were drinking, not by everybody."

Adams declined to comment on the ADP pledge violation because the "issue is still in process."



Dry and Mighty



On the whole, members of the social houses have been quick to defend the pledge process, claiming that most houses follow College policy and do not include alcohol in pledge events.

"There's not supposed to be any alcohol at any pledge event," said Battaglia, reasserting the position of the College. Battaglia, who is also the vice-president of Kappa Delta Rho (KDR), contended that this policy is "taken pretty seriously" by social houses. "I mean, it should be taken seriously by all the houses," she said.

"As far as I know, the idea of a 'dry' pledge period is honored and held in high regard by the houses," said Alex Wellman '07, a member of Alpha Omega (Tavern) and the rush chair for the house this fall. "We must take into account that a significant number of the people involved in ADP's violation were themselves not members, and it is possible that the events which transpired may have slid under the radar of those in charge of pledge at ADP."

Tavern President and IHC Vice-president Andrew Barriger '06 also contended that the social houses, in general, are transparent in their pledge process. "We make it clear to both our pledges and members that drinking or being drunk at pledge events is not acceptable," he said, noting that social houses "reserve the right at any time to send people home from an event or remove them from the class if they are unable to follow these simple guidelines."

But for every voice supporting the dry pledges, other students have expressed skepticism that events have remained substance free.

"I hear rumors that [the policy] is not always adhered to by other houses, but that is merely hearsay," said Laura Barrett '06, vice-president of the Xenia substance-free social house on campus. "I have no real proof of that and I have no desire to accuse the other houses of breaking the rules when I have nothing with which to back that claim."

Barrett's suspicions, however, are shared by countless other students who strongly believe that alcohol plays a significant role in the social house rush and pledging process.

Even Hanson acknowledged that claims of dry pledges could be just that - claims without substance. "I easily could be hoodwinked," she said. "My understanding over the time has been that KDR has been really good about keeping things dry. I'm not sure every other house has had that same commitment."



The Rush to Rush



On the whole, Battaglia believed that the ADP incident was a genuine mistake and a result of miscommunication. Furthermore, she suggested that the incident did not tarnish what has been an unusually successful rush and pledge season for the College's social houses. After several years of struggling to fill beds and recruit members, the houses boast strong recruitment numbers this fall.

"We saw slightly larger than normal numbers in rush an
d ended up with the largest pledge class in recent memory," said Barriger of Tavern. Tavern's pledge class is joined by solid numbers from KDR, ADP, the Mill and Xenia.

Wellman was similarly impressed by this year's turnout. "As a rush chair this past fall, I was impressed and excited by both the number of and quality of people we had showing up to our events in the weeks leading up to pledge," he said.

"Pledge and rush went really well," said Battaglia. "All the houses say that it's going well." While she noted that the break - the inevitable result of the investigation into the ADP incident - was inconvenient for the houses, she also said that, "In the end I don't really think it makes a big difference."

Pledging concluded this week for Tavern, KDR, Xenia and The Mill. ADP's pledge class will finish pledging, barring any other probations or incidents, at the end of January.