We have to better understand binge drinking. A professor who is an MIT alumnus said his fraternity experience, including the freshman year, was one of the most rewarding and bonding experiences of his life. We must find a mechanism by which all students understand where stupid drinking stops and fatal drinking starts. A former housemaster said there was no administrative backup on very serious disciplinary problems. Dartmouth undertook a concerted effort on binge drinking which had an impact for a few years, but now binge drinking among freshmen is back up.
Intermediate steps are important to consider.
We shouldn't wait until the dormitory is built. The design of housing is important. Small coherent groups and human scale make Random House attractive even though it is dingy. We need a way to break down the isolation of undergraduate living groups and graduate research groups, and make faculty more comfortable participating in student life. MIT needs more social spaces, such as the faculty lunchroom at Walker Memorial.