Last fall all Union College students received a letter on what needs to be done to maintain a civil community.
It didn't tell them that they should hold the door more often, or that they ought to consider saying thank you to more people.
The letter, from interim president James Underwood, outlined some of the concerns of the college administration. Chief among them were excessive drinking, vandalism and student assaults.
“It is very clear that alcohol consumption at many campuses is
excessive, as are the acts that such consumption promotes,” stated the letter. “Indeed, it is quite common that on weekends and Wednesdays we at Union must transport to the hospital one or more students who have consumed excessive amounts of alcohol.”
Now the school plans to take the discussion on civility a step further. It will establish a collegewide commission on civility, and ask students and faculty what the school should do to restore civili- ty on campus.
A major focus will be drinking. “Alcohol is a big piece of it,” said Stephen Leavitt, vice president for student affairs and dean of students at Union College. “There are pockets of problems that persist. We are sending a message that we're concerned about it.”
The civility commission is the most recent step Union has taken to improve campus culture and curb excessive drinking and the problems that go along with it. Members will be appointed this spring, and the commission will probably begin meeting in the fall.
At Union, students have helped revise the school's alcohol policies, and the school is prosecuting more alcohol-related cases and stepping up discipline.
But Leavitt said more is needed. “There are improvements,” he said. “It is much better, but it's nowhere near where it might be. . . . There are aspects of the drinking situation on campus that trouble me. There's too much drinking going on. The drinking has probably gotten worse in the past few years. There's more extreme drinking.”
Students who are 21 and older are allowed to have alcohol in their rooms, although there are limits. They are not allowed to have parties, and any gathering of more than six people is considered a violation of that policy.
Leavitt said more restrictions could be considered if there isn't a marked improvement in campus culture. The civility commission, he said, is the sort of things schools usually create after there's been some sort of tragedy on campus, such as a student dying from alcohol poisoning. “We don't want to wait for that,” he said.
“I don't have anything fundamental against alcohol as such,” Leavitt said. “What I'm against is binge drinking, and the boorish behavior that accompanies being drunk, the lack of civility that goes along with being drunk.”
“It's not most students, it's relatively few, but it's significant enough to trouble us.” Underwood's letter urged students to think about their “obligations to each other. We could merely ask ourselves that none of us do any harm to others. If that norm were to be adopted by the minority who do not at present abide by it, we would be a more civil place.”
“Our hope is that by becoming an oasis of civility in an often uncivil society, Union can become a model that other colleges will seek to follow.”
A couple of years ago, several of Union's fraternities were forced to give up the big mansions in the center of campus and move into the dorms.
A new house system, called the Minerva house system, was created, and all students were assigned to one of seven houses, which were envisioned as inclusive social spaces that would create a more robust intellectual life.
“The aim was to make Greek life not the only game in town,” Leavitt said.
There is a pub in the student center, where students who are 21 and older are allowed to drink. Leavitt said he doesn't support the idea of a dry campus, and likes the pub. He noted that the Minerva houses, where professors also hang out, serve wine to those who are 21 or older. “It sends a good message about the role of alcohol, that alcohol does not have to be about ‘let's get wasted,' ” Leavitt said.
If Union were to become a dry campus, it would run the risk of enhancing what Leavitt called a “credibility gap.” “At Union, you've got underage drinking all the time,” he said. “You've got policies you can't enforce.” It would be even harder, he suggested, to enforce a policy completely barring alcohol, and, as a result, students wouldn't pay much attention.
But he said a ban also has the potential to do good. “The upside to the approach is that it sends a message that you're serious about the situation, that you're bothered by it,” Leavitt said.