Rumors about Vassar becoming a dry campus prove to be fiction

Alan Neuhauser Staff Photographer

So let’s get this straight: Dean of the College Judy Jackson does not want to make Vassar a dry campus.

Just to make sure no one missed the message: Neither Jackson, nor Director of Security Don Marsala, nor any other administrator is pursuing any change to the College’s policy regarding on-campus alcohol consumption. And after three years, it’s about time to let this rumor die.

Vassar’s alcohol policy is not much different from that of New York, or for that matter, the rest of the country. The policy, in my opinion, is both pragmatic and enforceable, and Jackson agrees. “I believe that legal-age drinkers should drink responsibly and model to underage drinkers how someone of legal age should drink,” she said. This is why she does not want a dry campus, which would prohibit any alcohol consumption on College grounds, regardless of the user’s age.

However, as far back as Fall 2004, rumors began to circulate that Jackson had embarked on a crusade to make Vassar a dry campus. She had just begun her first semester as Vassar’s new Dean of the College when then-VSA President Joe Wildfire brought the rumors to her attention, which came as a surprise to her: “I said, ‘Dry campus? I drink myself. Why would I want a dry campus? I’m not a hypocrite,” responded Jackson.

Jackson thinks that the rumors arose from her conversations with Marsala and Security in Fall 2004. Upon arriving at Vassar the previous summer, a rising senior “sort of bit [Jackson’s] ear about underage drinking and drug use. To hear her tell it, it was just rampant,” said Marsala.

It’s strange to hear someone who presumably spent four years at Vassar portray the College in such a negative light. Underage drinking and drug use are pervasive on almost every campus, and inevitably, problems arise in the form of violence, property damage, and trips to the hospital. But Vassar’s arrests and disciplinary referrals for underage drinking, drug use, and crimes that result from either activity pale in comparison to those at such institutions as Hamilton College, Skidmore College, and New York University.

Still, Jackson made sure to stress the importance of enforcing Vassar’s alcohol policy at one of herregular meetings with Security. In response, she said, Security cracked down on underage drinking, which in turn gave rise to all the rumors.

Marsala, however, does not believe that Security made any changes to its enforcement tactics, and instead believes that the dry campus rumor simply arose from decreased Mug attendance. “There were more incidents of drinking in the residence halls, so obviously, the Security officers came across more illegal parties,” said Marsala. “[Jackson] just gave me the charge to continue doing the job and enforce the College’s regulations, and that’s what we did. There was never any thought of increasing our presence or anything like that.”

Regardless of how the rumor started, the fact remains that Vassar will not become a dry campus anytime in the foreseeable future. And good riddance. Vassar’s policy is both sensible and realistic, and the consequences for violating that policy are reasonable and effective. First-time offenses typically receive a formal warning, while repeat offenses or more serious violations generally warrant more severe consequences. As Marsala said, “The main goal is to educate the students about how dangerous some of these behaviors are, and that in the real world, consequences will appear for inappropriate behavior.” Similarly, because students who are 21 or older can legally drink in the outside world, those who attend Vassar don’t—and shouldn’t—lose any legal rights just because they’re at Vassar.

Any loosening of Vassar’s drinking policy would violate the law. Meanwhile, any tightening of the policy would prove counterproductive, because it would force students to either binge-drink or go to less controlled and potentially more dangerous off-campus areas to drink. As Jackson put it, “My primary goal is to make sure that you have a good, safe undergraduate experience, and that you can go through the maturation process…so that you leave here ready to face the new challenges out there in the professional world. And it seems to me that we’d do you a disservice if we don’t require those things of you here.”

In short, students can finally rest assured that prohibition isn’t coming to Vassar anytime soon, and that the Mug’s doors will remain open as a dance club instead of a speakeasy. And I say, thank goodness (and our administrators) for that.