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BY ALLISON GANTT

In print | Published September 17, 2009

Since the start of classes, Swarthmore’s new DART team has sponsored three major events to educate the student body about alcohol and drugs. Several other projects are currently in the planning stages.

“Often if you trace the history of these sorts of programs, it’s in reaction to something… but this is something [the students] have worked on all summer,” said Assistant Director of Student Life Kelly Wilcox ’97. “The recent incident at Haverford only demonstrates how important their work is.”

Wilcox referred to a police raid at Haverford two weeks ago, in which 27 Haverford and 4 Bryn Mawr students were cited for underage drinking.

The DART team collaborated with RAs during orientation to lead alcohol workshops for first-years. The workshops supplemented the school-mandated Alcohol EDU online workshop, a requirement for incoming first-years.

“We pulled all the facts that we thought would be relevant but not boring… shying away from scare tactics,” DART team member Leigh Elko ’10 said.

Though each workshop “differed per DART team member and per RA,” Elko said that general topics included blood alcohol concentration, types of alcohol, standard drinks, social scenes at Swarthmore (both with and without alcohol), and Swarthmore’s alcohol policy.

“We did an exercise where we had volunteers pour what they thought a standard drink was into the cups that you see around campus, like the clear plastic and red Solo cups,” Elko said, “and that seemed to go over pretty well.”

In past years, RAs have been solely responsible for conducting alcohol workshops. This year, however, the DART team trained throughout orientation week and then collaborated with the RAs to develop an effective program.

“I asked [the RAs] to think of the three best aspects of their alcohol workshop and three aspects they thought could be improved,” Wilcox said. “At every step I tried to make it a true partnership. The DART team was really a resource for the RAs.”

“I thought [the workshop] was pretty informative because I wasn’t educated a lot on alcohol in high school, so the knowledge I had was mostly based on prior experience at parties that may or may not have been based on truthful or scientific information,” said one first-year, who requested to remain anonymous due to her age.

To supplement the first-year alcohol workshop, DART introduced a “tailored workshop” specifically for international students. Elko said that the workshop had been recommended by a group of international upperclassmen. Wilcox described the event as a forum for international students to gain clarification and more detailed information on alcohol policy at Swarthmore.

“[The international students] had a lot of questions to ask, and they were very open,” Elko said.
Both Wilcox and Elko agreed that the tailored workshop was not only a success, but also a program they hope to repeat throughout the school year for other groups who request them.

DART’s most recent project has been a controlled adaptation of Pub Night, referred to as “Pub Night Lite.”

“Students felt that a safer, monitored space would be a positive alternative to underground or dangerous drinking,” Wilcox said.

Wilcox said that the DART team hosted the event and took extra measures to give Pub Night a more regulated environment. Procedures included marking the hands of underage guests, letting DART team members distribute drinks, limiting the number of alcoholic drinks available and providing several non-alcoholic beverages and snacks.

“It was definitely not as ‘lite’ as I expected it to be. I thought there would be some alcohol there but there was beer pong and drinking games,” an anonymous first-year student said. “But I had fun and I didn’t drink, so I was glad that that could happen,”

“There was not a limit as to how much you could drink, but you could only take two drinks at one time,” another anonymous first-year said, describing the atmosphere as “much more controlled than the frat parties.”

“We don’t condone underage drinking; we were just creating a safe space for legal-aged drinkers,” Wilcox said.

The group plans to host a parlor party in early October.

DART has been meeting regularly to organize goals and create new programs, Elko said.
Current projects include a party host alcohol training program, a headshot poster and a contact information sheet permanently available at the college’s leading party venues.

She added that the DART team would be willing to host more tailored workshops for groups that would like them. Elko said that the team aims to have these projects complete before the start of fall break.

“I had the opportunity to meet with members of the DART team on three occasions so far this year. I’m very impressed with their dedication to one another and the student body as well,” said Tom Elverson ’75, Alcohol Education and Intervention Specialist.

“They have exceeded all expectations with how energetic, organized and hard working they’ve been,” said Wilcox.

DART welcomes suggestions and feedback from the student body. The 15-member group may look for additional recruits for the spring semester.

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