Community Council Update

On Monday, Feb. 17, Community Council continued the ongoing discussion of hard alcohol policies with the Commons Deans. Dean of Brainerd Commons and Visiting Assistant Professor of Comparative Literature Natasha Chang, Dean of Wonnacott Commons Matt Longman and Dean of Cook Commons Ian Sutherland were present at the meeting.

Hard alcohol has been a main topic for Community Council since last spring when President Ron Liebowitz asked the Council to examine the role of hard alcohol on campus as a condition of his approval of the Mill Hard Alcohol Exception. During its meetings in the fall semester about the issue, the Council met with Dean of Students Katy Smith-Abbott and Coach Bob Ritter, co-chairs of the 2011-2012 Task Force on Alcohol and Social Life, Gus Jordan, executive director of Health and Counseling Services, and Barbara McCall, director of health and wellness education. A number of members on the Council felt that it was necessary to continue the conversation surrounding hard alcohol with the Commons Deans.

The deans have a more personal understanding of this issue as they work directly with the students who struggle with substance abuse. The College emphasizes education over punishment for students who abuse alcohol, unlike many peer institutions. All students who have to meet with their deans to discuss their alcohol usage are required to go through the Brief Alcohol Screening and Intervention for College Students (BASICS) program that focuses on educating the student to make better informed decisions about alcohol consumption.

“We work most closely around health and safety, ” explained Longman. “It’s very important to me that students feel that our approaches are reasonable. There are some on campus whose perception is […] that the administrators and the deans are not doing enough about [alcohol issues] and are not coming down hard enough. From my standpoint as someone who sits with students following up after these really tough weekends […], it is easier to see it that way [in a distance] but when you’re really with [these students] you realize that this is a human question […] about who we are as a community and how we treat each other.”

The Sober Friend System, which is one of many safety nets that the college implements, was discussed at the meeting. The Council also debated the idea of having the Parton Center for Health and Wellness open on Friday and Saturday nights.

“The same people are asked to be Sober Friends over and over again because they are usually people who are nondrinking, and it’s problematic to continue with the same people taking these caretaking positions,” said Chang about the Sober Friend System. “A second flaw is that at times the Sober Friend will leave the person, which is concerning. I don’t think there’s an easy solution to either of the two programs and I’m don’t feel that those are great enough problems to do away with the Sober Friend system I really feel that the system is part and parcel of the Good Samaritan policy.”

Ann Hanson, Posse Mentor, former Dean of Students and proxy for Dean of Ross Commons Janine Clookey, pointed out that safety nets, while making the campus generally safer, also encourage students to make irresponsible decisions:

“One of really big challenges in grappling with this issue is [to consider whether] you are hampering or enabling students to drink more by having [those] safety nets. In the real world, you can go to the hospital if you drink too much […] We at Middlebury have always struggled with what our philosophy is and I think we try really hard to keep people safe at a huge expense… [By having those safety nets] we are making it easier for students to drink and be irresponsible.”

This week, the Council continued the conversation about financial aid and heard a petition from the residents of Munford house to become an Interest House.