Bowdoin Student Government (BSG) discussed a draft of Bowdoin's hazing policy with Dean of Student Affairs Tim Foster at the group's Wednesday meeting.
"My goal was to share a draft of the policy and listen to people's feedback," Foster wrote in an e-mail to the Orient. "If all goes well, we will have an expanded hazing policy as part of a revised social code beginning with the 2008-2009 academic year."
BSG is one of several groups from whom Foster is seeking feedback on the draft. After Foster gathers feedback, the Student Affairs Committee will make a final set of revisions that Foster will take to President Barry Mills for "consideration and approval," according to Foster.
"We wanted to have a clear policy about hazing and the expectations and standards of our community," Foster said at the meeting. "We wanted to write it in a way that also acknowledged the value of some of the different components that people might think of related to hazing."
"We didn't want the policy to be Draconian," he added. "There needs to be some flexibility in terms of how these things are looked at."
BSG Vice President for Academic Affairs Sam Dinning '09 and Vice President of Student Organizations William Donahoe '08 opened student discussion by noting the draft's length and wordiness, while Community Service Council Representative Alison Spencer '08 said, "It's important that this document not just stand alone."
"If it's followed up by presentations during Orientation or other things where you can boil it down to the more concrete," Spencer continued, "I think that would be a really valuable supplement to the written component in the Handbook."
Foster agreed. "There's a whole educational component that needs to be active and not passive," he said.
Class of 2010 Representative Rutledge Long challenged a sentence in the draft that reads, "In a learning community such as ours, we value lasting relationships grounded in mutual respect, not artificial connections created through shared humiliation."
"A lot of times, hazing incidents are all about mutual respect," Long said. "It's not artificial just because you're doing something ridiculous or outlandish...It's all the more real. It's definitely a lasting memory."
Long added, "I don't think that Bowdoin...has a serious hazing problem, at least in a dangerous sense of the word 'hazing.'"
While Foster said that he does not believe "we have 'dangerous' hazing happening on campus," he said he believes "we always have to be mindful of it and educate around it."
"The very purpose of this document is exactly what's happening right now," he said, referring to the discussion. "I think this is trying to come up with our own common, community understanding...it'll become a point of education for the community, a common understanding, a set of expectations."
Class of 2009 Representative Kyle Ritter was the first member to address the issue of alcohol. Ritter wondered whether a hazing policy such as the one drafted would drive hazing off campus and into more dangerous situations beyond the grasp of Bowdoin Security.
Long reiterated this at the end of the discussion, asking the assembly, "Is this going to create more creative ways to have team bonding experiences?"
Foster called Ritter's point "interesting," saying, "There's the whole dilemma of how big of an issue is this and are you drawing more attention to it."
Ritter also questioned whether fear of punishment would prevent students from voicing concern over hazing.
"I don't think hazing is something that necessarily could be extinguished immediately," Ritter said, "especially not through a document."
"I appreciated the feedback I received," Foster noted. "I thought it was an excellent conversation that illustrated for me the need for on-going education about hazing."
He continued, "A clear policy is just one part of this effort but it is an important one because it provides a common reference point about what constitutes hazing and the standards and expectations for our community."
"I was really glad to have Dean Foster join us," BSG President Dustin Brooks '08 wrote in an e-mail. "Last semester we spent a lot of time thinking through our Club Membership Activities Policy, so hopefully some of our work there will prove helpful with the college policy."
With approval of a motion to extend the meeting 10 minutes beyond the 10 p.m. automatic adjournment, BSG unanimously approved two funding requests, including a $700 allocation to purchase movie tickets for reduced rate sale to students and a $100 allocation to purchase magazines for Watson Fitness Center.