Ivy League college bans liquor from campus in effort to curb sexual assault

US colleges and considering new policies to reduce assaults

(Getty Images)

Dartmouth College last week revealed that it will be banning hard liquor from campus, becoming the latest US school to make a policy change in an effort to cut back on party culture and sexual assaults.

The Ivy League school is also attempting to reform its fraternities, which have a long and boisterous history that has led to some recent bad press for Dartmouth, according to a report from the Wall Street Journal.

Dartmouth’s ban, along with similar policies at schools like Brown University and the University of Virginia, among others, are in a response to an increase in sexual assault cases on US college campuses.

The University of Virginia was thrust under the spotlight when a Rolling Stone article published last fall described, in detail, the brutal gang rape of a female student at a fraternity event. The story was later disproved, but it hasn’t stopped universities from going on the offensive to try and curtail binge drinking and sexual assaults.

The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism found that each year 1,825 college students between the ages of 18 and 24 die alcohol-related deaths and about 97,000 students are victims of alcohol-related sexual assault in the US.

Dartmouth’s ban goes into effect March 30 and includes any liquor higher than 30 per cent proof. The new policies also require bouncers and bartenders at all college-related social events and will include a code of conduct to guide student behaviour.

All student organizations will undergo annual reviews to ensure the groups are following the code of conduct. Dartmouth has created a task force to oversee the changes.

Follow Payton Guion on Twitter @PaytonGuion.