Dartmouth sees rise in alcohol incidents
January 26, 2019
Dartmouth College last school year saw a 12.6 percent increase in the number of alcohol-related incidents that required the involvement of Dartmouth security officers or dorm advisers, according to newly released data from the college.
The annual undergraduate student alcohol intoxication incident data showed 437 alcohol-related incidents that required intervention by either Dartmouth Safety & Security or undergraduate advisers or other residential life staffers in 2017-18, up from 388 in the 2016-17 school year.
The number was the highest since such incidents were first tracked in 2011-12. The second-highest total, 414, occurred in the 2015-16 school year.
The Dartmouth report showed the number of intoxication cases that required treatment at either the college’s Health Service clinic or Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center remained relatively flat for the fourth straight year, at 183, and well below the 263 such cases in 2011-12.
But medical encounters in which a student’s blood alcohol content was greater than 0.25 – more than three times the legal limit of 0.08 and an indication of very serious intoxication – increased from 30 to 37, on par with the 2014-15 school year, but less than the 62 such encounters reported in 2011-12.
Dartmouth President Phil Hanlon banned hard alcohol for undergraduates on campus in 2015, and the college has introduced a number of “harm-reduction” strategies, including prevention programs through a Student Wellness Center and a bystander initiative that trains and encourages students to intervene if they see another student engaging in high-risk drinking behavior.
Asked about the increases in alcohol-related incidents and medical encounters for high blood alcohol content levels, Dartmouth spokeswoman Diana Lawrence said the college takes all such fluctuations “very seriously” and also looks at long-term trends.
“The changes last year could be related to a number of factors, including increased prevention efforts related to enforcement,” Lawrence said via email, also noting that the numbers from last fall show a “notable decline” in the same categories.
“Since the launch of more evidence-based practices by the College in 2012, high-BAC incidents have declined and remained at under one percent of the student population,” Lawerence wrote. “We constantly strive to improve our community’s safety and are proud of the wide range of best practices in reducing high-risk behaviors currently occurring on campus.”