Acorn

Media Credit: Facebook.com At Asbury Halloween, students consumed shots and other alcoholic drinks until the party was shut down at 12:30 a.m. These students take flaming shots in a dorm room that night. [Click to enlarge]

Halloween weekend at Drew Univer-sity proved to be full of more tricks than treats.

With traditional parties like Asbury Halloween drawing large crowds, the number of transports to Morristown Memorial Hospital reached a semester high of nine, seven of which were alcohol-related, Chief of Public Safety Tom Evans said. One incident of sexual assault was also reported to Public Safety on Oct. 29, although Evans did not disclose the place.

The majority of the alcohol transports were from Asbury Hall on Oct. 28, the night of its traditional Halloween party, Evans said.

"Asbury Halloween is a traditional Residence Life-approved dance party," Resident Director of Asbury and Hoyt Michelle Alford said. "It serves as an alternative to those who cannot attend Hoyt Halloween, either because they are not Hoyt residents or seniors."

Alcohol is not an approved part of the event and was not part of the large dance party in the main La Casa lounge. "There wasn't anyone drinking where I was," freshman Shanel Ingram said. However, the smaller parties held in certain rooms on Asbury's first floor were serving alcohol, Ingram said.

The party began to get out of hand around 12:30 a.m. "We were getting enough calls and we knew to shut the party down," Evans said. After discussion among some ResLife staff, "the events surrounding the party were deemed to be no longer responsible," Alford said. Public Safety and Reslife staff then notified the students in attendance that the party was finished. "Some girl got on the microphone and told us the party was over and to clear out," Ingram said. "We thought it was going to start up again, but then no one was listening to Public Safety when they told people to clear out, so they shut it down for good."

To still provide a place for students to enjoy themselves, "We decided to open Hoyt Halloween in The Space for them to come over and dance," Alford said.

While the theme houses involved received the brunt of the blame for the many alcohol related transports, many students are believed to have "pre-gamed," or drunk before their arrival at the party. "I was there at the beginning, and people were walking in there already drunk," Ingram said. One of the transports of the night, freshman Joshua Braun, admits to having drunk before attending Asbury Halloween. "People pre-game harder than they party," he said.

The number of transports the weekend before Halloween, and the week leading up into it, was highly unusual to the campus, according to Evans. Previous Halloween weekends have not been like this. "I don't know why this weekend was so bad," Evans said. "It is an anomaly." Assistant Dean of Education and Student Affairs Frank Merckx said that weekend was double Drew's semester average. "Our numbers were down," he said. "This brought them back up."

Out of all the reported transports, Evans said most, if not all, were freshmen. "They are usually inexperienced drinkers," Evans said. "They learn. We seldom transport the same person twice." The number of transports could also be attributed to the fact there are 100 more freshmen this year than the average-sized class, Evans said. "An influx of students means an influx of everything else," Evans said.

The process of transporting a student often goes unnoticed by many students. According to procedure at Morristown Memorial Hospital, if someone arrives at the hospital because of excessive drinking and is not responding to hospital staff, he is immediately given a catheter and fitted with a diaper. The treatment at the hospital often depends on the condition of the student. The next day, the student returns to campus by cab. Merckx said once the incident is filed, Drew's Health Services calls to check on him. He is then contacted by e-mail or letter, informing him to contact either Merckx or Residence Life Director Christina Rishiy. The consequences often depend on the individual situation, "If the Good Samaritan rule is brought in, then the student just has to attend an alcohol assessment meeting. But if its not, they may have to attend a group class," Merckx said.

One problem that may result from the transports may be the price paid by the theme houses responsible for the parties. According to Daniel's Dictionary, "The University will sanction those involved with hosting a function and providing alcohol differently from an individual attending the function, A person found responsible for hosting will be placed on 'host' probation for up to one academic semester." This would put the blame on those known to be serving alcohol to students who were transported that night. "Those who choose to host an event will be held accountable and will be held to our judicial process," Alford said.

While Merckx said that in no way would the University shut the theme houses down, "We may impose hosting restrictions- you know, not allow certain events in an area for a given amount of time." For the time being, he and Residence Life are meeting with students and theme houses to discuss the incidents, and he said that they are "still getting the facts together."

The effects these transports will have on the University are still being discussed, although Dean of Campus Life and Student Affairs Dawn Williams said that policy will not be changed. "The policy is put together to help us work with students to better educate them about their choice," she said. "We take each transport very seriously, and want students to educate themselves about how to make smarter choices."

In addition to a serious amount of alcohol-related transports on campus, the one confirmed sexual assault incident is uncharacteristic of the Drew community. According to the statistics of past reported sexual assaults, available on Public Safety's webpage, there were four incidents of forcible sexual assault from 2002 to 2004, and 2004 is the most recent year posted. Evans confirmed the incident was turned over to the University's Sexual Assault Board, by the victim's request. When a sexual assault is reported, Public Safety gather the facts and then presents the options a victim has, Evans said. The victim can report it directly to Madison Police, or choose to have the Sexual Assault Board handle the incident. Many sexual assaults aren't reported at all, and are kept confidential, Evans said. The judiciary outcome of any sexual assault is determined specifically for each case, especially when alcohol use is involved. Whatever happens, Evans said, "We just want to support the victim."

While following weekends have returned the campus to its original state, many students still feel the problems lie with the students. "People are dumb" Ingram said, "They try to put the blame on everyone else, when it's all their responsibility." The University is working to understand why certain events happened, and how to prevent them. Evans said he is working with other University staff to prevent these events from recurring. "Everybody's concerned," he said. "The freshmen class has to wake up. It's time for the student body to be responsible for themselves."

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