Committee on social life tackles challenges

Author: Katie Hylas

Five months after convening, Middlebury's Social Life Task Force - a student-run group billed as a potential solution to last year's frustration at organized social life on campus - has yet to produce any substantive recommendations. Plagued by sporadic student participation, the task force faces the challenge of writing a proposal detailing substantive changes by mid-year.
Originally formed by Dean of the College Tim Spears and Dean of Student Affairs Ann Hanson to identify and address student social concerns on campus, the task force was turned over to student initiative after several meetings. "Students have the creativity, the ideas and the energy to change social life," said Hanson at the time. "We started the task force in order to facilitate their efforts."
At the group's first meeting in late March, students echoed popular campus-wide concern over the "guest list" rule, an exclusive security measure at social house parties implemented after Middlebury's new liquor inspector renewed the enforcement of Vermont state liquor laws. Following the meeting, task force member Marco Casas '07 said that one of the group's primary goals would be to ensure "that every weekend there will be a cool activity for them to engage in without being harassed by the Middlebury Police."
After losing several student members to overseas study programs, however, the remaining six participants - all seniors - spent their first fall semester meeting on Tuesday reorienting themselves to the task ahead. The group's goal is to produce by mid-year a written report summarizing student concerns with campus social life and several proposed solutions; in particular, concrete alternatives to the off-campus parties and dorm-room drinking that now substitute for open social house events.
The group also met at the time with a representative of the Middlebury Police Department to discuss concerns about the relationship between students and the police, and also to figure out what exactly is and is not legal for students to do. In addition, members spoke with Ricardo Jordan, a Tufts University graduate student who organizes the Tufts Events Staff, about alternatives for alcohol enforcement at student parties that would not involve Public Safety officers or the police. The group discussed the possibility of a Segue site where students could post their concerns about the social life on campus.
With a new semester underway, task force members say they are confident that the group can contribute positively to changing the Middlebury social scene. "The task force is making progress on putting together a written report of issues pertaining to social life on campus and improvements that we think can be made," said student members Sam Temes '07. "We are discussing social spaces available on campus, service of alcohol and party hosting, and non-alcohol oriented social events." Temes also said that he was interested in re-examining how the college segregates spaces for academic and social use.
Many students have expressed concern that newly-enforced alcohol laws have inadvertently encouraged students to engage in more dangerous activities, like over-consumption of alcohol behind closed doors. In addition, some worry that the off-campus parties that have grown as a means of avoiding attention from Public Safety have increased the incidence of drunk driving. Said Nick Lefeber '08, "The more difficult drinking on campus becomes, the more kids will go off campus and then have to drive home."
In the wake of several incidents last year, including a number in which town police intercepted and breathalyzed students returning to their residences from off-campus parties, many underage students say they interacting with Public Safety or the police frustrating. Said Jack Britton '08, "We're so close to Canada, we might as well just pretend we're in Canada and lower the minimum drinking age on campus."
Despite the group's optimistic goals in tackling these concerns, however, its relative obscurity on campus has hindered its efforts to involve students in bringing about change. The task force does not, for instance, have a page on the Middlebury Web site, and there is no official avenue through which to contact its members. For an interested student, the only way to find the task force is to contact the offices of Hanson or Spears directly.