Ivy League college bans hard liquor on campus

Dartmouth College in the US plans to ban hard liquor in a bid to tackle dangerous behaviour including binge drinking and sexual assault on campus.

A string of new policies approved by the college’s trustees were announced in a speech last Thursday made by Dartmouth president Phil Hanlon following months of committee meetings and titled, Moving Dartmouth Forward.

They include banning alcohol that has an abv of 15% or more, increasing penalties for sexual assault and “hazing”, launching a new smartphone safety app and adding six residential communities for new students that will provide a new social space on campus.

“Each residential community will organise and host social and academic programmes, and eventually each will have dedicated space for study and social interaction,” said Hanlon.

“We are committing in excess of US$1 million per year to support programming in the residential communities and other college-owned venues.”

A report released by the committee on Thursday highlighted that the majority of alcohol-related medical encounters involved hard alcohol with more freshers requiring medical attention than upperclassmen as a result of drinking too much.

However, Dartmouth noted it has made progress in bringing the number of alcohol-related medical emergencies down.

According to reports by Huffington Post, Dartmouth is currently under two federal investigations regarding how the university handles sexual violence and campus crime.

“None of our recommendations alone will magically transform the choices students make in their actions and behaviours,” the report stated. “In fact, it is not clear how much power institutions of higher education have to impact these behaviour, given their prevalence in the greater society.

“But it is certainly incumbent on Dartmouth to do all it can to counter them and to make our campus as safe and inclusive as possible.”