Setting the Record Straight: Safety and Security Walks Back Curfew

The Daily Dartmouth reports that Safety and Security will not implement the proposed curfew policy that would shut down parties at 1 AM on weeknights and 2 AM on weekends. In an article published on its website late Thursday night, it suggests that the “rumors of party curfew are false” based on statements from Safety and Security and the Greek Letter Organization and Societies office.

On Wednesday, The Review heard from multiple credible sources within both fraternities and sororities that Safety and Security was planning to implement this curfew. Multiple houses blitzed their membership telling them about this new policy.

The idea of changing S&S methods also has not been limited to Greek house speculation. On Wednesday night, a Safety and Security officer questioned several students near Late Night Collis about why they were out so late. If reports that “representatives from Safety and Security and the Greek Letter Organization and Societies said there have been no changes to policy or practice” are true, what explains this change in behavior?

Safety and Security

As The Daily Dartmouth’s article correctly clarifies, there has not been an official policy shift or the creation of what the administration has explicitly called a “curfew.” Despite the absence of this change, however, it is important to note that based on rules and regulations that are already on the books, the College has the ability to change its tactics of enforcement in a way that would place draconian policies like a curfew well within the realm of possibility. Based on the numerous reports from Greek presidents and individual students that The Review has received, this scenario appears to be highly likely.

It would also seem that The Daily Dartmouth agrees with us. Their news piece conflicts with a compelling column by David Brooks ’15 that they ran earlier on the same day. Brooks says “Safety and Security walkthroughs now include enforcements that I haven’t seen in the past, such as counting cans, cases and even cups to formulate the amount of beer the fraternity is handing out.” But how can this statement be true if the Daily D also reports that “representatives from Safety and Security and the Greek Letter Organization and Societies said there have been no changes to policy or practice.” Something doesn’t add up here, and as is so often case, we at The Review don’t believe it’s the administration’s official story rather than student testimony that presents the confounding variable.

So what explains yesterday’s denouncement of this rule? Since the email was consistent with what a variety of Greek presidents had been hearing, it is hard to believe that the story was simply a “rumor.” The student body has absolutely no incentive to invent a mythology about new Safety and Security tactics and policies days before Homecoming Weekend. On the other hand, after the outraged that was expressed in the last 48-hours, the administration has every reason to deny these claims.

In a tumultuous time like the one we are currently facing, accepting such statements without critically questioning them is wrong. Change is coming in Hanover, and breathlessly parroting official channels fails to properly inform students and alumni about what is happening. If the College’s press is to be more than just a mouthpiece for various agendas, it needs to look beyond the statements of Dartmouth employees and be more critical of the administration’s dealings.