He’s Back: Lohse Weighs in on MDF

Andrew Lohse to return

As we discuss and debate the state of student life in the wake of President Hanlon’s reform proposals, Dartmouth should steel itself in preparation for the return of the most controversial student voice in recent history. Andrew Lohse plans to resume classes in Hanover in the upcoming Spring term, according to a January 30 post on his Facebook. Lohse has been on inactive withdrawal from the College following a three-term suspension he received after an altercation with a Safety and Security officer in the fall of 2011.

Lohse brought up his plan to return as a comment on a video of his recent CNN interview, during which he commented on the newly announced hard alcohol ban and other details of the Moving Dartmouth Forward proposals. He expressed skepticism that the ban would successfully reduce dangerous drinking on campus, and suggested that Hanlon had not been bold enough to address the root problems in student life. “The idea that a fraternity is going to follow this rule, I find it laughable,” he told CNN anchor Carol Costello, citing Prohibition as an anecdote of how difficult the ban will be to enforce. Rather, Lohse reiterated his rallying cry for the total abolition of the Greek system. He referred to a “simpler solution” for curing Dartmouth’s social ill, saying “I think there’s a problem in putting all the focus on alcohol instead of the cultural factors that produce these individual behaviors.”

During his hiatus Lohse has commented regularly on College affairs, most thoroughly in his 2014 memoir Confessions of an Ivy League Frat Boy, and recently as a regular contributor to Time Magazine online. While his reputation and views have made him largely unpopular among the student body, he will likely remain a prominent voice in the student life conversation if he follows through on his planned return in the spring.​