February 2, 2012
On Saturday Jan. 28 at noon, faculty and students filed into Bradford Auditorium to the tune of “Shots” by LMFAO and Lil’ Jon. They weren’t there to throwback drinks though, but because they wanted to solve a problem: the dangerous drinking culture at Hamilton College.
President Joan Hind Stewart set the mood by telling the concerned students, “Your college needs your help.” She is deeply concerned with the wellbeing of the student body. “I can tell you what keeps me up at night is the thought of an injury or death of a student related to the irresponsible use of alcohol.”
Stewart said that the situation Hamilton faces is not unique to the College; like other schools, Hamilton must work under New York state law. With regard to the law, Stewart proudly stated that she was one of the first college presidents to sign the Amethyst Initiative, which calls for a national conversation about whether or not the current drinking age of 21 is the right policy.
After describing walking past a pool of vomit that morning, Dean of Students Nancy Thompson emphasized the problem: the dangerous and destructive nature of the alcohol culture at Hamilton College. She shared results of a campus-wide survey and students’ thoughts about the problem. The responses ranged from dismissing alcohol’s being a problem, to blaming the administration and its policies for promotingirresponsible drinking, to suggesting that “there is nothing to do at Hamilton but drink.”
In order to reinforce the fact that there is a real problem, Director of Counseling and Psychological Services Robert Kazin showed data from studies he has been taking since 1999 among students at Hamilton. The data has been very consistent over the years, and what it shows is that one third of Hamilton students drink three times per week or more, one third of students drink once per week on average and one third of students drink once every two weeks, less frequently than that or not at all. Kazin also takes data on a number of things related to the use of alcohol and compares them to the national average.
Kazin highlighted the comparison with the national average. Hamilton is below average in the self-reporting of driving a car under the influence, the only negative outcome for which the College does very well. Hamilton is normal in terms of how many people are arrested for DUI, missing classes due to alcohol use and taking advantage of another sexually. Nevertheless, Hamilton is higher than the national average for the number people who have been taken advantage of sexually, been hurt or injured, experienced memory loss, done something they later regretted, reported having hangovers andbeen in trouble with authorities. Kazin said, “We have a bigger problem than many other colleges.”
Before breaking up into smaller group sessions to identify solutions, Thompson offered a definition of what was trying to be solved, which was unanimously agreed upon. She said the goal was to “identify specific and realistic actions that can be taken at the college to reduce dangerous, destructive and or disruptive behaviors,” and to “improve the social environment.”
Based on color-coordinated pieces of paper, students and faculty broke up into smaller groups to come up with concrete solutions. Moderated by designated facilitators, groups discussed what they thought were the best ways to tackle this problem for one hour. Later, all the groups reconvened, shared and vetted all the ideas. Some ideas included continuing to send out weekly emails detailing the events of the weekend, creating a Safe Zone-like training session about alcohol, cracking down on fake IDs, offering more and varied social events and adding a statement about alcohol to Hamilton College’s declaration of community values, allowing everyone to sign it.
Thompson ended the day by thanking everyone for giving up three hours on their Saturday and helping Hamilton College. She said the ideas would go a long way in helping Hamilton combat the drinking problem. Most importantly, she emphasized, “We want to be proud of our college,” and the efforts of the day will help everyone continue to do so.
Reflecting on the event, students were impressed with the solutions offered and the involvement the administration offered to the students. Kylie Cameron-Burr ’12, a resident advisor, thought it was “an incredibly productive, well organized event, which clearly demonstrated that the administration is listening to students and wants them to be motivators in the changes that will occur.”
Mary Swartwout ’12 agreed: “I think there were several solutions presented, which if implemented will bring about the changed that is necessary.” Furthermore, Swartwout thought it was “inspiring that the administration is starting the conversation with the students rather than behind closed doors.”
Thompson thought the day’s conference was successful as well. “I appreciated students’ willingness to help identify initiatives that can improve the social environment and help reduce the dangerous, destructive and disruptive consequences of high-risk drinking.”
When asked what she would tell students who are skeptical that nothing will come out of the day, Thompson says, “There is no question that we will implement a number of ideas proposed on Saturday.” Nevertheless, Thompson emphasized that the degree to which the ideas will be successful depends largely on the students’ willingness to take a stand with their peers.