The Hamilton College social scene contains a broad scope of potential options for going out. Many students are in clubs, on sports teams, or in Greek life, giving them multiple avenues from which to choose for enjoying a night with friends, on and off campus. Before COVID-19, student organizations were allowed to host events with alcohol in locations on campus such as the Tolles Pavillion (formerly known as the Annex), Bundy Cafe, and the common space on the first floor of Bristol Hub. Off campus, students frequent Don’s Rok, a bar in downtown Clinton (the Village Tavern, another bar in Clinton, was also an option for students until its closure in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic). Students associated with Greek life and sports teams rent houses downtown to facilitate social events. The school has taken actions to limit students’ ability to go out both off and on campus by canceling the late night Jitney and removing authorized on-campus party options.
The remaining options for students are becoming increasingly exclusive and polarizing, a result both of the diminished on-campus options and of the cancelation of the late night Jitney. Such policies have posed a safety risk for many students as they are simultaneously pushed off campus and forced to find their own, less reliable means of transportation.
There are several Greek life-associated houses that exist off campus. A substantial number of students who go off-campus are those in Greek life attending parties at their respective houses. Surya Gowda ’23 mentioned that “when Greek life runs a lot of the social scene at a predominately white institution, going out tends to mirror that demographic.” In addition, a student from the Class of ’21 mentioned, “Those who had ‘a dozen bucks a week’ could go off campus and the spaces themselves were very ‘white-centric.’” Hamilton eliminated Greek life on-campus spaces in the 90s with concerns of the dangers associated and the liabilities they posed to both students and the College. Yet today, nearly two thirds of Greek life is affiliated with off-campus housing. Multiple fraternities and sororities are on a co-signed lease, with some sports teams doing the same.
Now there exists a problem far worse than what was allegedly fixed with the elimination of on-campus housing. Since it is significantly more difficult for students to go down the Hill than it is for them to walk to the Tolles Pavillion, there is currently a barrier from safe night activities. Such an atmosphere inherently creates a divide between those who can afford to go off campus, and those who cannot. On campus, there are greater safety precautions such as Campus Safety, EMTs and RAs. As a result of Greek life-affiliated houses moving off campus, Hamilton College is no longer liable for any incidents that may occur at these houses, though Title IX covers all students, regardless of location.
The Hamilton Social Scene Previous to COVID-19
Until 2020, students had the opportunity to use certain campus spaces to host events with alcohol. Greek life organizations and clubs were allowed to reserve places like the Tolles Pavillion and bring kegs to the event. Student Hillcards were checked at the door and all students, regardless of age, could attend. Louis Dzialo ’19 recalled that as long as a Greek life organization or club worked with the administration, Campus Safety would mark kegs for use on campus at specific events. Students would host events with alcohol on campus rather than only having the options to host events in their dorm rooms or in the glens. Sophia Bernstein ’23 recalled her first year at Hamilton, stating “I remember attending events in both the Annex and the basement of the Bristol center in the Fall of 2019. They were super fun campus-wide and group-run events. I felt a lot safer having events on campus knowing that I could leave safely at any point if needed and it gave me peace of mind knowing that the events were supervised. These venues also had large capacity limits which made them a nice opportunity to meet new people during my first year. They were also more inclusive as people didn’t have to worry about the cost of transportation to and from off campus events.”
Similarly, AJ Zuckerman ’23 commented that “Parties in the Annex, even those thrown by Greek life, were less exclusive than the ones that currently happen downtown. And the fact the alcohol can’t be served is a part of that.” Even younger students who have not experienced the late night Jitney or events at the Annex remember hearing about them as a student from the class of ’24 commented, “I remember when I was touring here they talked about all we have, like the annex parties, so we can have events on campus. So I was like ‘oh that’s great, I wanna go to a school where…I want to be on campus.’”
A student from the Class of ’21 remarked that Hamilton wanted to minimize on-campus parties even before the COVID-19 pandemic, saying, “I knew that the school wanted to reduce number of on campus things because of safety and liability for the school.” Dzialo ’19 referenced Hamilton’s academic reputation as a reason for the administration’s sudden shift towards reducing parties. “Hamilton used to be seen…as a Williams and Amherst safety school, they used to chant ‘safety school’ at us at games. The Dean of Students…wanted to close the gap between us and them academically”
During Dzialo’s senior year, 2018–2019, he noticed a large shift in the party scene on campus. “The school tried to shut down COOP basement after people kept throwing big parties there.” In addition, he said that Hamilton informed students that they were going to shut down social locations such as the Tolles Pavilion, Bundy Cafe and the Bristol Hub due to “liability reasons and also to promote a more academically rigorous environment.” According to the same student who graduated in 2021, these decisions affect students of color more so than white students because “POCs stayed on campus more than white people did back then, because of the same reasons that they don’t today like safety and accessibility” so the lack of an on-campus alternative for social events limited their options to go out safely.
COVID-19 and Its Effects
The pandemic offered the administration an opportunity to limit on and off-campus party options. “COVID was a great reason for Hamilton to crush designated off-campus outlets, especially the late night Jitney. It also didn’t help that Greek organizations weren’t…allowed to have houses,” said Duncan Freeman ’22, alluding to the fact that the Hamilton administration banned on-campus Greek life houses in 1996.
Dean of Students Chris Card acknowledged that the current Hamilton social scene cannot be analyzed without addressing the COVID pandemic, noting “the sense is that there was more vibrancy to the social scene” before COVID. He continued, “having been in the COVID mindset for so long and now sort of getting back out of it, the question is do we go back to where we were? What do we bring back and what do we leave behind…What does the post-COVID social scene look like?” This question plagues a lot of students who either miss what used to be or never got to experience a pre-COVID Hamilton.
The Removal of the Late Night Jitney
The late night Jitney, a College-funded transport service to get students to and from downtown Clinton on Friday and Saturday nights, made going off campus more equitable for students who do not own a car or cannot afford to call an Uber to get down the Hill. Students with the Pub star on their Hillcards were allowed by the school to use the late night Jitney every weekend to go off campus. Any student could take the Jitney back up the Hill, regardless of age.
The Hamilton administration canceled the late night Jitney service at the beginning of the pandemic with the intent of limiting student exposure to COVID-19 infections. Simultaneously, they implemented strict protocols to prevent any outbreaks on campus, including removing students’ ability to use the aforementioned party spaces. Almost all COVID-19 protocols have been eliminated as of this year, yet the late night Jitney has remained unavailable and students are still not allowed to use the school’s social spaces for parties with alcohol. The decision to remove the Jitney has made it much more difficult for students to go off campus and for students to safely go out on campus because now, only students who can afford to own a car, order an Uber, or are friends with someone with the abilities to do so, can feasibly go off campus to bars and the already exclusive Greek life houses.
For a student in the Class of ’21, the “Jitney made going off campus so much easier and made going off the Hill so much more accessible. It was also used predominantly by those who would not have gotten rides otherwise.” Freeman echoed this sentiment, mentioning that “the socioeconomic boundaries have gotten worse with the absence of the Jitney and increased use of Uber and similar services…those who go downtown are more white, more wealthy and more capable of actually getting down the Hill.”
Dean Card agreed that this can lead to inequities, “One of the questions that I have, which is a focus for me, is that all students should have an equity of experience here. I often find that when it comes to going off campus that with some of those events, particularly there’s a cost attached or there are transportation issues attached. That sets up different classes of students and that is where my biggest concerns emerge because when that happens, it actually goes against the kind of community that we want.”
A student from the Class of ’24, and a member of Greek life, recounted a time he was inebriated at Don’s Rok and did not have a method to get back to campus. He told
The Spectator
, “I had to walk up the hill alone from the Rok in a state that I should not have been walking alone. I’m very lucky that nothing happened to me.” In the end, he was forced to call his girlfriend to help him return home, stating that “I couldn’t walk up all the way on my own. I needed to call in support to meet me down the hill to further walk me up the hill.” The student’s girlfriend stated that, “it was the wee hours of the morning and I walked down in my slippers. And I just think if there was jitney I wouldn’t have to do that at all.”
This past semester, the Student Assembly minutes became flooded each week with requests to bring back the Late Night Jitney, including some from fraternity pledges who were instructed to submit Student Assembly comments in support of weekend transportation. In the minutes on Sept. 12th, SA President Jiang mentioned that they had met with President Wippman, Dean Card and Dean of Accessibility Harrison, who provided reasons for why it has not been reinstated. According to Jiang, “there is the worry that it seems that we have a “Bar Jitney,” as the Jitney went directly to a bar from campus, despite the fact that many students on campus are underage.” In addition, there have been issues with “intoxicated students abusing the Jitney and the drivers.” SA President Emily Jiang stated that “the largest issue is that Hamilton does not want to encourage underage drinking. Having the “drunk bus,” which is what I have heard it called from some administrators, is not a good look and it is not something that adults feel safe doing. So, I think that is a concern when we see comments [in the SA minutes] from a majority of people who are not legal to drink.”
Frank Coots, Director of Campus Safety, reaffirmed this position, stating “it went away and it’s not going to come back, it was very expensive.” Coots, acknowledging that the College’s perspective on the Jitney has changed, noted “that mindset has changed, right? Because pre-COVID, that wasn’t the mindset as Hamilton willingly facilitated the late night Jitney. Currently, the perspective is that the Jitney is not worth it. It was about $60,000 a year, so you’re spending $60,000 for one group of people, which would be anybody over the age of 21, where you have, roughly, let’s just say 1600 students that are less than 21 and cannot use this service.” He mentioned that the Student Assembly could pay for it, “it really would be incumbent upon the Student Assembly to negotiate with whatever bus company you decide.” Jiang confirmed this, “We have formed an ad-hoc committee to address it because so many students have expressed a desire for it to return.” Peter Huleatt ’23, a member of the committee, remarked that they “will meet with Dean Card and Student Activities on Mon., Dec. 12th, to discuss alcohol at on-campus events.”
The Current Party Scene at Hamilton
When thinking about current on campus parties, Coots stated that “one of our biggest problems is people under 21. The College has taken a zero [tolerance] stance on that and zero exemption stance on that. We know the students are going to do it, but we’re not going to approve it. And it seems to be a bit of a conflict, but I think as people that run this institution…we have to come up with a final answer by saying, no, we are not going to support any type of event where alcohol is being served to people less than 21.” Dean Card reiterated this statement remarking that “the law is the law. And so we’ve got to think about how we can be in a space like that. I know for example there were venues on campus here that would host events with alcohol in some cases they were run by students in other cases they were not.”
The Little Pub is currently the only social place on campus that serves sanctioned alcohol. It is open Tues., Thurs. 8:00 p.m.–11:00 p.m., and Fri., Sat. 4:00 p.m.–11:00 p.m. However, students have found that this schedule cannot facilitate the social scene that they desire. Huleatt mentioned that “The Pub needs longer hours, and is not conducive to holding a large campus event.” Gowda supported this statement by saying that, “The pub tends to cater towards the hours of sports games which facilitate a more stereotypical masculine group attendance.”
While the administration was previously willing to oversee the provision of alcohol at on-campus events, the administration has since decided that a third-party vendor would have to provide and facilitate the distribution of the alcohol. Associate Dean of Students Travis Hill stated, “I anticipate we will revamp the events with alcohol practice and policy to include a requirement of a third-party caterer and/or a much more robust training and level expectation for sober student staff for events of this nature as well as strict enforcement of the legal drinking age. Thus far we have not had success identifying a third-party vendor that would be willing to support an event like these.” Dean Card agreed, noting “I haven’t given up on the idea yet. I just think we have to spend more time really exploring and being a bit more creative about what that would look like.”
“The lack of on-campus events serving alcohol since my freshman year has forced student life off-campus, upped the costs of events, and put students in more dangerous situations. At a college as small as Hamilton, pushing parties off-campus creates more exclusivity in the student social scene, further separating the student population from sports teams and Greek life. Simply reinstating the ability to serve alcohol in the Events Barn and the Annex gives student organizations tenable venues to host the student population,” commented Huleatt.
Frank Coots also acknowledged the party scene that occurs off campus. “Having a place downtown is not against policy. You have to have a place to live on campus, that’s part of the rules and policies of this college. However, that doesn’t mean you can’t have a place downtown to hang around and have a place for your own social aspects. So I certainly acknowledge the fact that it’s happening, that I know that there are people down [the Hill]…I know that it’s a place where students go to have social events, whether it’s alcohol, whether they’re just there to watch the Monday night football, whatever it might be, whatever the reason is. I know what happens. I acknowledge it.”
When asked about off-campus facilities, Dean Card claimed that though he is not opposed, “I have concerns about when student groups go off campus. I don’t necessarily oppose it because I think a variety of activities is good. There could be other places that have better venues than we have or just provide something else about the atmosphere that they’re trying to create that we just can’t do here or might just be more efficient to do elsewhere. I think for any college student, the social scene should include the community in which you live,” remarked Dean Card. “I’m not saying that things can’t be happening on campus as well, but I think there are difficulties behind all of that.”
It is important to note that while the administration has recently played a hands-off role concerning the social scene off-campus, they would still step in if there a sexual misconduct-related incident. Frank Coots stated that if they knew of such an incident, “we would ensure that Title IX gets involved because it involves one of our students. And we want to ensure that any victim is made as whole again as possible.” Catherine Berryman also verified this statement, noting, “incidents that occur between our students downtown, if they are prohibited by our policy, are covered by the Title IX policy.” Though this policy protects students downtown, other Hamilton safety protocols such as Campus Safety and the EMTs don’t have jurisdiction down the Hill.
Dean Card mentioned that “for many years, we allowed Greek life to take over the social scene and in many ways, we’re looking at a very small percentage of student population in Greek life, in many cases under 20% of the student body is in Greek life, but you’ve got 20% of students and organizations that dominate social scene, and why? Because they pushed out free alcohol.” He continued stating that “I don’t know what the Greek life scene was here, because I wasn’t here, but I can only imagine in similar spaces that it was quite active, and a big draw was that Greeks would throw parties fairly regularly. However, I do know that there are many accounts of issues of inequity in some of these events. I can imagine if Greeks still had access to their facilities that they probably would be hosting events more regularly. I gather that there have been some ways to evade that space by folks who may have other facilities, down in the Village or close by, as a bypass.”
Though these unregulated spaces exist, they are typically only available to the members of Greek organizations and the people who know them. A first year non-athlete mentioned to
The Spectator
that “it’s hard to be social at Hamilton…there are even first years threatening to transfer if it does not get better.” During his time at Hamilton, Dzialo felt that the administration “had a distorted view of the Hamilton community. They think we have a rich environment of clubs and groups on campus.”
Dean Card stated that, “I’ve heard in the lore that Hamilton used to be a party school. I’ve heard in the lore that Hamilton is a party school. You can imagine that there are folks on both sides, some are happy that the party school image is behind us because I think there’s a perspective that compromises our academic reputation. And vice versa, there are some who believe that students came in anticipating a far more vibrant social scene, and that has not been the reality.”
*Authors of this article participate in Greek life*
