• To review the policies and practices with regard to alcohol at Colby and consider others.
• To provide a caring, healthy, safe, and civil environment in the residence halls, and at all social events.
• To support a social life that is not overly dependent on alcohol and which promotes responsible choices and deals effectively with abuse.

Methods:
In our work, Commission members:

• read relevant articles on the topic of alcohol on college campuses (see bibliography);
• heard presentations from Colby students, faculty, and staff on the state of the alcohol scene on the campus today;
• reviewed nationwide trends and invited Dr. Henry Wechsler, a noted expert from Harvard in the field of research on alcohol issues on college campuses, to address the full Commission;
• conducted surveys of ten other colleges to understand the alcohol scene on other campuses and to discover strategies which were employed to combat abuse and provide successful alternative programming;
• sponsored a joint meeting with representatives from Bates and Bowdoin Colleges to discuss approaches to this issue;
• offered an open hearing on-campus for any member of the Colby community to present views on the subject in any area but, in particular, with regard to environment, education, and enforcement; and,
• received and read messages from students and others which were sent to the Commission.

The full Commission met five times; on-campus Commissioners met in fourteen separate working sessions.

In our work, we have sought to improve campus social life. We believe that the adoption of the recommendations in this report will create a more vibrant social life as well as a campus-wide "culture of responsibility" by enlisting all segments of the community -- students, faculty, staff, alumni and parents -- in open support of a campus atmosphere where abuse is challenged and not tolerated, where alcohol will not be central to campus life, where all persons will be honored, and where civility and respect for the educational process, both inside and outside the classroom, are paramount.