October 18, 2012
Re: Hamilton to overhaul first-year experience
Like many students, I was surprised Friday morning when I woke up and found that Hamilton had decided to create all freshman housing. I am disappointed in Hamilton because they are trying to change one of Hamilton’s greatest strengths it sense of community.
In the article two things stand out to me. The first is Director of Residential Life Travis Hill and the committee’s belief that the housing change will not alter Hamilton’s community feeling. I disagree. When talking with a friend on the subject, he mentioned to me that he lived in Dunham his first year where there were not many social upperclassmen. He said he felt that he missed out on a lot because he did not have much social interaction with upperclassman.
Conversely, my other friend who lived on the Darkside said he enjoyed living near upperclassmen that brought him to events and encouraged him to hang out with them. I fear that putting freshmen separately will create an isolationist nature amongst classes because not only will they be isolated in all freshman dorms, but then will be isolated down the hill in Bundy. So after isolating a class for two years, administrators expect the culture on campus not to change—to me that makes no sense.
Secondly, Hill mentions that the administration feels that upperclassmen are bad influences on freshmen. I will not argue that upperclassmen are always good role models but I would point out that upperclassmen are better role models, then other freshman. There is a reason why no one goes into the housing lottery saying I want to live in Dunham—because there you must deal with vomit, freshmen breaking things and constant EMT and fire alarms.
In contrast, Darkside dorms are cleaner and have less issues and I feel this is because a majority of upperclassmen in the dorms are able to control themselves and set a good example which the freshman replicate. I predict that with this change damages, fire alarms and EMT calls in regards to freshmen and all freshmen dorms will increase and Hamilton will create a more isolated school with a greater drinking problem.
— Lyman Munschauer ’13
Hamilton, drinking, and the social culture
After years of salutary neglect towards underage and excessive drinking on campus, the Hamilton administration might finally take action against the destructive behavior that threatens the health of its students and damages the college’s reputation.
The drinking problem at Hamilton is no mere abstraction, but solving such an intractable problem requires the administration to chart a new course if it hopes to make any tangible progress.
First, stop looking for a panacea that will magically solve everything. As the misguided and recently abandoned hard-alcohol ban proved, no single policy can cure a problem as complex and deeply rooted as excessive drinking at Hamilton.
Hamilton students love to drink. In fact, it’s our favorite pastime. So please, do not underestimate our desire and do not assume that one new rule will keep us down for long. Instead, try and come up with a comprehensive solution that engages all members of the community. Schedule more Friday classes, ask professors to make major assignments due on Mondays, and work with local merchants and bars to prevent the sale of alcohol to minors. Such subtle changes won’t stop excessive drinking entirely, but they might make students think twice about whether getting drunk is really worth the costs.
Second, get serious. Start enforcing existing alcohol policies and stop acting like the profligate adult who wants to lose weight without making any lifestyle changes. We cannot continue to serve alcohol to underage students at on-campus parties and then scratch our heads when someone ends up in the back of an ambulance. Yes, social spaces provide safe, monitored places for students to drink, but turning a blind eye toward underage consumption sends mixed messages and undermines the credibility of any anti-drinking rhetoric from the administration.
Third, provide strong disincentives against destructive behavior and dangerous drinking. At Hamilton you hardly face any legal repercussions for reckless drinking and just about the worst that can happen is you wake up with a throbbing hangover and maybe a few judicial points. Why not choose to push the limits of intoxication in an environment where the negative outcomes seem so remote and trivial? To change the current culture we need swift and substantial punishments that act as effective deterrents to excessive drinking.
Finally, decide how much you are willing to sacrifice. Better yet, do not listen to anything I have just said. At stake here is more than just a change in the drinking culture, but in the very social fabric of Hamilton as an institution that empowers its students with a strong sense of independence and personal responsibility. Personally, I loved Hamilton’s hands off character and I would hate to see that change amid a retrenchment of student liberties.
It’s unfortunate that as a student body we have occasionally proven ourselves perhaps unworthy of the laissez faire attitude with which the administration has treated the drinking in the past, but if we start assailing student freedoms then we risk alienating the smart, fun-loving and fiercely independent students who help define and differentiate the Hamilton experience.
—Scott Blosser ’12