College Opens Drug Investigation
THE Dartmouth campus, which had been reading about the drug problem at other colleges but had not seriously considered that anything of the sort could develop here, was surprised, even a bit shocked, to see the banner headline in The Dartmouth of January 19: "College Launches Sweeping Drug Probe."
Dean Thaddeus Seymour, who announced the Committee on Administration's decision to undertake an "openended" study of the drug question at Dartmouth, made it clear that the action had been taken at this time to forestall a serious problem rather than to meet one. Few specific facts are in hand concerning the extent of illegal drug use by Dartmouth students, the Dean said, "but we do have a problem and I would say that since the Christmas vacation it has grown." The creation of a task force to deal with it is an effort, the Dean said, not only to produce facts but "to get out in front of a problem to the extent that that is possible."
The official statement by the Committee on Administration said:
"The Faculty Committee on Administration has a growing concern about the unlawful presence of drugs on the Dartmouth campus. The recent experiences of other colleges make clear that it must initiate discussions at once, both internally and with public authorities. It therefore directs the Dean of the College to convene a task force including students, faculty members, medical and legal personnel to begin private discussions at the earliest possible date with representatives of state and federal authorities.
"It is our intention to cooperate fully with public authorities, and it is our aim that candid and specific discussions will anticipate problems and will produce enlightened and constructive solutions.
"At the same time the Committee directs the Dean of the College to publish in some detail the public laws on the sale, use, and possession of illegal drugs."
Dean Seymour also gave a personal statement to The Dartmouth:
"It's unambiguously clear that we must take positive steps on the drug question at Dartmouth. Rumors have been particularly persistent since attention was directed to the problem on WDCR last fall.
"I want to make it clear that the decision by the Committee on Administration to create a task force to engage in discussions with public authorities has absolutely no relationship with the study currently being, conducted by our Student Health Service. Only Dr. Francis King, director of the study, has access to the identity of the questionnaire respondents and their anonymity is protected by law.
"I believe it is time for realistic, practical, constructive discussions with representatives of the campus community and public authority."
The WDCR broadcast mentioned by Dean Seymour took place in September, when the student radio station called attention to the use of drugs by both Dartmouth students and Hanover teen-agers, and urged College and community authorities to deal with the situation. The survey by Dr. Francis W. King was made in his capacity as the Health Service's Assistant Director for Mental Health. His findings, as the Dean emphasized, are clinically privileged.
Ten days after the first announcement of the drug study, Dean Seymour made known the personnel of the eight-man task force, including three students. The members are Peter L. Buck '68, James B. Kenney III '69, and Nick P. Perencevich '69; Augustus E. DeMaggio, Associate Professor of Biological Sciences; Dr. Robert E. Gosselin, Professor of Pharmacology, Dartmouth Medical School; Paul W. Rahmeier, College Chaplain; and J. Gilbert Upton '52, Concord, N. H., attorney.
A series of regular, off-the-record meetings were scheduled to begin at once. State and federal narcotics agencies have been invited to take part in the committee's work and have been "extremely cooperative," the Dean said.
The action by Dartmouth's Committee on Adminstration came shortly after the massive police raid on the Stonybrook campus of the State University of New York. While insisting that plans for the Dartmouth investigation had been in preparation for some time and were not the result of outside pressure, Dean Seymour admitted that the Stonybrook experience had led the Committee to speed up its timetable. "Events at Stonybrook and elsewhere gave us an idea of the intensity of the problem on college campuses, and we did not want that sort of thing to be in the making here," he added.
A check with the Dean's Office disclosed that prior to the College's midJanuary action there had been no case of student disciplinary action involving drugs.
