A Thorny Question

THE Commission on Campus Life, which was established in December 1953 to make a far-reaching study of undergraduate social life, presented an interim report last month on the difficult subject of regulating student drinking and women guests in the dormitories. One purpose of a tentative rather than a final report was to give students additional opportunity to make constructive comments to the Commission.

Dartmouth's regulations on drinking and women guests are on the liberal side. Drinking in public and between the hours of 1:00 a.m. and 12 noon is prohibited; otherwise its regulation rests on the general requirement that each individual student is responsible for his own gentlemanly conduct, with intoxication regarded as a particularly serious form of misconduct. Women guests are permitted in the dormitories between 10 a.m. and 7 p.m., except on Saturday night when they may remain until midnight. In fraternities, the limit is 11 p.m. except on Saturday night when it is 1:00 a.m. On occasions approved by the Dean of the College the hours may be extended.

The Commission report stated the need of strengthening the regulatory structure of the College and offered two approaches: one, "retention, in their generally liberal form (but not without specific change) of our present regulations, and a concomitant emphasis on enforcement, strict penalties, and education toward responsibility"; and two, "a change of extensive and thoroughgoing nature in the broad statement of rules."

The impression gained from the interim report is that the Commission favors the first approach and rejects the second, which would be that of outright prohibitions. If basically the same rules are retained, it is proposed that there be tighter enforcement and stiffer penalties, and that women guests in the dormitories be logged in and logged out, under the supervision of the present dormitory committees. Some members of the Commission take the position that, in general, it makes more sense to deal strictly and immediately with offenders rather than to adopt general prohibitions that are equally severe on the law-abiding and the irresponsible.