Task force to look at social life

Author: Liz Campbell

In response to increased campus-wide concern about social life at Middlebury College, Ann Hanson, dean of Student Affairs, and Tim Spears, dean of the College, have invited students to participate in a task force on student social life. The Committee will convene throughout the spring semester and will inspect student social life, solicit feedback from other students and provide recommendations on how to improve student social life on campus.

Specifically, the task force will solicit input from students in order to determine what activities would be fun, what represents a social life beyond alcohol and how to provide more and better options for students who are not yet 21. In an e-mail to students last week, Hanson wrote, "Middlebury students, not the administration, should be the ones to determine what social life on campus looks like."

This appeal for student input on the College's social life is largely in response to a growing dissatisfaction among students with the new interpretation of state liquor laws this year. These laws, most students claim, have severely altered the social life on campus by preventing social houses from hosting open parties. With fewer parties thrown by social houses and regulated guest lists required at each party, students are complaining that there is nothing to do on campus on Friday and Saturday nights.

Furthermore, these new regulations have encouraged students to pursue social life off campus, which has raised additional concerns about the costs and dangers of off-campus drinking. There has been a significant increase among students in alcohol abuse and drinking-related accidents both on and off campus this year, and the police have reported a noticeable increase in inappropriate conduct including fights and vandalism, resulting mainly from an excessive use of alcohol.