Hanover
Dartmouth administrators have made a rare announcement of opposition to the proposed amendment, which could eliminate college oversight as a requirement for campus residences to house students.
The potential regulatory change, which is on the warrant for Town Meeting on May 9, would remove from town zoning code a provision requiring that student residences in the campus “institutional” district be operated “in conjunction with” another institution, which town officials have interpreted to mean Dartmouth.
Carolyn Cole submitted the amendment by petition after the town Planning Board declined to support it. Cole is an attorney representing two fraternities, Sigma Alpha Epsilon and Alpha Delta, that are fighting a legal battle over the same piece of the zoning code in an effort to maintain their residential status after being banned from campus.
Dartmouth officials last week said the measure could limit the school’s supervision over its students and lead to public safety problems. The college’s public statement against a municipal zoning proposal was an unusual step, spokeswoman Diana Lawrence said.
“Allowing fraternities and other groups to house large numbers of students without any affiliation or supervision by Dartmouth is bad policy and has significant public safety implications for the town,” Robert Donin, Dartmouth’s general counsel, said in a news release last week. “In the absence of College supervision, Hanover’s police and fire departments could be faced with having to police much more directly the behavior of Dartmouth students living in fraternities off campus.”
Cole, reached by telephone on Monday, declined to comment on the zoning amendment she brought forward, saying she didn’t want to jeopardize either court case.
Alpha Delta lost ties with Dartmouth in spring 2015 after revelations that its members had had the fraternity’s letters branded into their skin. Town officials informed the society that it had lost its residential status along with its college affiliation — a decision that Alpha Delta appealed, unsuccessfully, up to the New Hampshire Supreme Court.
Sigma Alpha Epsilon was banned from campus in winter 2016 after it lost ties with its national fraternity affiliate over allegations of alcohol-related hazing.
It, too, appealed a ruling from the Hanover zoning administrator that its members could not live in their house; that case currently is awaiting a decision in Superior Court.
Despite the college’s assertions about the fraternities’ activities, in both cases local police and the district attorney cited a lack of evidence in declining to charge the Greek-letter societies with hazing, which is a crime in New Hampshire.
If initial observations from town officials hold true, this zoning issue may bring more students to the polls than expected for Hanover’s Town Meetings.
“We have indeed seen an uptick in the number of students coming in to register in order to participate in next week’s Town Meeting,” Betsy McClain, director of administrative services for the town of Hanover, said in an email on Monday. “The numbers have been relatively small (a few dozen), but they have been noticeable given we generally have ZERO interest in student voter registration leading up to our Town Meetings.”
McClain said she had also fielded a few calls about absentee voting from students who may not be able to make it to the polls on Town Meeting Day, with some, but not all, of the students citing the petitioned zoning amendment as the root of their interest.
McClain noted that advance registration is complete for this coming Tuesday’s election, but that Hanover residents may still register at the polls.
Balloted voting for Town Meeting will take place from from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Tuesday, May 9, in the Hanover High School auditorium. The floor portion of the meeting follows at 7 p.m. in the same location.
Rob Wolfe can be reached at rwolfe@vnews.com or 603-727-3242.