Dartmouth students will no longer be allowed to drink hard liquor on campus, the college president said Thursday, part of a series of new programs to check binge drinking and sexual assault.
The plan titled "Moving Dartmouth Forward" seeks to ban hard liquor on campus as a way of "tackling the challenge of excessive drinking among students," Philip Hanlon, president of the 246-year-old Ivy League school, said according to CNS News.
Way too often are students rushed to the hospital due to drinking hard alcohol, Hanlon said.
"The Steering Committee found that high-risk drinking is far too prevalent on our campus and that in the vast majority of alcohol-induced medical transports, it is hard alcohol- rather than beer or wine- that lands students on a hospital gurney," the president said according to Reuters.
All alcohol that's 30 proof or more will be prohibited on the New Hampshire-based campus and at all college-sponsored events, the president said. The restrictions apply to students even if they are over 21 as well as organizations recognized by the school. Those who violate the ban or buys alcohol for minors are subject to harsher punishments than ones in existence.
"The key to the successful implementation of any policy change is a clear path for enforcement," Hanlon said, CNS News reported.
Hanlon also announced a program to help eradicate sexual assault, though he didn't specifically say there was a link between excessive drinking and sexual assault. All students will soon be required to complete a four-year program on sexual violence prevention and education.
There will also be an online "consent manual" containing "realistic scenarios and potential sanctions to reduce ambiguity about what is acceptable and what is not," CNS News reported.
Dartmouth's programs come as the Obama administration cracks down on what is called rampant sexual assault on campuses across the U.S., Reuters reported. The college is one of over 50 being investigated by the Department of Education to see if its sexual assault policies are in line with federal laws on equal treatment between the sexes.
