No offense

Editorial: The hard sell

Dartmouth College President Phil Hanlon announced on January 29 that alcoholic beverages that are more than 15 percent alcohol by volume (ABV) would be prohibited from Dartmouth’s campus beginning this spring. The announcement has sparked discussion about the role of hard alcohol on college campuses around the country, with the debate proceeding along these lines: Administrators and health experts argue that limiting hard alcohol consumption reduces binge drinking and makes campuses safer. Detractors claim that hard alcohol bans are evidence of college administrators becoming increasingly paternalistic. After a similar policy went into effect at Bowdoin in the late 1990s, the College became a safer place to drink.
Much of the coverage of Dartmouth’s new ban makes reference to Bowdoin, which was one of the first schools to enact such a policy. Bowdoin prohibits the possession of hard liquor with an alcohol content of more than 10 percent ABV, while permitting beer, wine, malt beverages and hard cider. Both Amherst and Williams prohibit hard alcohol at registered events, with a few exceptions. Hamilton banned it briefly, but lifted the ban in 2012. Of the 11 NESCAC schools, only Bates, Colby and Bowdoin have banned hard alcohol entirely.
Bowdoin’s policy provides a strong deterrent to having hard alcohol at campus-wide parties that we believe protects students from overconsumption. Whereas a typical mixed drink like jungle juice—which contains an unknown amount of alcohol—might be served at parties at other schools, it is relatively uncommon at Bowdoin. That is not to say that one cannot find hard alcohol on campus. Students often binge drink in their rooms before attending larger parties, and opponents of prohibiting hard alcohol argue that bans encourage rather than deter such dangerous behavior. However, if students do choose to pre-game with hard alcohol, at least they are making their own drinks in a controlled environment, rather than consuming mystery drinks in the midst of a chaotic party.
In recent years, Bowdoin has had a low number of student transports and last year had the lowest in the NESCAC. Although this statistic is also attributable to other factors, the College’s policy certainly helps foster a healthier drinking culture. A ban on hard alcohol alone cannot create a safe campus party environment, but it is an important step in the right direction.
Enacting a policy that moderates the behavior of college students is not an easy task, and even Bowdoin’s time-tested ban is not without its downsides. But by and large, our experiences at the College have confirmed that banning hard alcohol is more responsible than it is paternalistic. Each year roughly the same number of U.S. college students die from alcohol-related causes as are enrolled at Bowdoin, and although there may be other ways to prevent these deaths, banning hard alcohol should not be overlooked as a potential solution. It took a tragic death in the late 1990s for Bowdoin to reassess its drinking culture, and today’s students are better off as a result. We hope that the recent national attention given to Dartmouth’s actions will encourage other schools to consider similar policies.
This editorial represents the majority view of the Bowdoin Orient’s editorial board, which is comprised of Garrett Casey, Ron Cervantes, Sam Chase, Matthew Gutschenritter, Nicole Wetsman and Kate Witteman.

Editorial: Keep working

On Sunday, Wil Smith ’00 passed away after a battle with colon cancer. As has been widely written, Smith leaves behind a legacy as one of the most influential alumni in Bowdoin’s recent history. One of three African-American students in his class, Smith matriculated to the College when he was 28 and caring for his toddler daughter. Smith experienced hardships at Bowdoin in a time when our community was not as well-equipped to help struggling students adjust to Bowdoin.
In Smith’s first few months at the College, graduation seemed like an unattinable goal. Smith was surely the only Polar Bear to ever study and play basketball as a single parent, and at the beginning of his first semester, he felt underprepared and inadequately supported. That changed quickly. Roy Partridge, the professor of Smith’s first-year seminar, and Betty Trout-Kelly, the assistant to the president for multicultural affairs and affirmative action, marshalled resources and support for Smith. The College provided housing and a meal plan, and an alumnus donated $25,000 for childcare for his daughter.
After graduation, Smith became the director of multicultural student programs at Bowdoin, a position that allowed him to expand access to the College to new populations of students, and—once they arrived in Brunswick—to ensure that they received help if they needed it. According to Dean of First Year Students Janet Lohmann, Smith represents the idea of possibility at Bowdoin. “There was no scaffolding for a 28-year-old who wanted to play on the basketball team,” she said. “He just showed us what was possible—how we, as an institution, could meet people’s needs and how a person like Wil could really make this his home.”
Since Smith enrolled at the College, it has begun accepting a more racially, economically and regionally diverse student body, and it has developed progamming to meet that student body's needs. The administration has implemented the Bowdoin Advising Program to Support Academic Excellence (BASE) program, which provides robust advising to students who did not attend rigorous high schools. The College has also begun offering courses like Quantitative Reasoning, which help students improve the foundational skills they will need throughout their time at Bowdoin. Despite these efforts, there are students who believe that more should be done. Two weeks ago, over 200 community members gathered in the David Saul Smith Union to hear a small group of students talk about a variety of issues, including how Bowdoin can better support students from diverse backgrounds.
Smith worked tirelessly on issues of diversity and inclusion both at Bowdoin and beyond. All who knew him speak to his skill in giving voice to those who were not always heard and his belief in the potential of everyone with whom he worked. As we remember and mourn him, we should also recommit ourselves to the causes he championed. Smith’s story is as an example of how Bowdoin can enable all of its students to succeed, regardless of their circumstances. At the Berkshire School, Smith was known for his catchphrase “keep working.” Bowdoin has worked hard to expand access and better accomodate the needs of all students, but it should honor Smith’s mantra as it moves forward.
This editorial represents the majority view of the Bowdoin Orient’s editorial board, which is comprised of Garrett Casey, Ron Cervantes, Sam Chase, Matthew Gutschenritter, Nicole Wetsman and Kate Witteman.

Editorial

This piece represents the opinion of The Bowdoin Orient editorial board.

February 20, 2015

This year, Ladd House will not be hosting its annual Inappropriate Party. After multiple conversations with the Office of Residential Life (ResLife) and Ladd’s advisors, House residents decided to forgo the event. In years past, disrespectful costumes have included aborted fetuses and various impersonations of Hitler. The Inappropriate Party, a Bowdoin and Ladd House tradition, is little more than a justification for students to be offensive. ResLife’s decision to caution Ladd House to think carefully before hosting the party—particularly in light of November’s Cracksgiving incident—was a good one. Ladd residents themselves spent two weeks brainstorming ways to host the Inappropriate Party without finding a solution. That itself is evidence that the event no longer has a place on campus.

The Inappropriate Party is not an event where an isolated offensive action may occur; rather, it specifically encourages participants to be offensive. One can imagine costumes that would be inappropriate but harmless, but the chances that all or even most of the costumes would be innocuous are slim. It is not worth the risk. Additionally, simply telling those who may be offended not to attend this party goes against the very purpose of the College House system: to create an inclusive social environment at Bowdoin. The College should not allow, let alone promote, an event condoning disrespect.

The pre-emptive cancellation of an event, however, could be a dangerous precedent to set. The mere possibility of offensive behavior should not be reason enough to cancel a party, since pre-emptive action punishes everyone for presumed transgressions. We believe individual students should be punished after the fact, should they decide to act in a disrespectful manner. The Inappropriate Party is an event at which students have conducted themselves poorly year after year, and it merits cancellation, but the College should not presume that Bowdoin students are incapable of attending a Wild West-themed party, for example, without resorting to disrespectful Native American costumes like those worn at Cracksgiving.

Upon graduation, Bowdoin students will enter a world in which many people are not as conscientious of concepts such as microaggressions and cultural appropriation. But we will also enter a society in which conversations about diversity of all kinds are becoming more common and in which cultural sensitivity is increasing. If Bowdoin can play any role in graduating a more socially-conscious group of alumni, it should. It is not our belief that Bowdoin students should plan events or live their lives in fear of offending others, but when we have a clear opportunity to prevent hurtful behavior, we should take it.

Bowdoin took a decidedly progressive stance when it punished the students who dressed as Native Americans at Cracksgiving, and it reaffirmed its committment to that stance by discouraging the Innappropriate Party. The loss of this ill-conceived event will improve campus culture. When it comes to other student programming that the College may find questionable, however, we hope that that the administration will take a back seat and that students will have the wherewithal to act in a manner becoming of a Bowdoin student.

This editorial represents the majority view of the Bowdoin Orient’s editorial board, which is comprised of Garrett Casey, Ron Cervantes, Sam Chase, Matthew Gutschenritter, Nicole Wetsman and Kate Witteman.

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