Write-ups down

By Winston Yu

Alcohol allegations from the first weeks of school have increased from 2007, but are fewer compared to the numbers from 2006.

The number of alcohol-related allegations that occurred from Welcome Weekend to last Thursday, Oct. 9, were 166, up from 139 in the same time period in 2007. The number of allegations for this year and last year is less than the 216 violations that occurred in the first few weeks of the 2006-2007 school year, said Matthew Duncan, associate dean for student life.

Alcohol-related allegations refer to reported violations that have been documented by Community Facilitators that have yet to be fully resolved within the university's judicial system.

"The thing that's very interesting is that for this year, some of the increase can be attributed to the fact that some of the incidents had a large number of people in them," Duncan added.

"It's difficult at this point to comment on this, since we're only talking about three weeks here," he said.

Of the 166 allegations reported in the first few weeks of the 2008-2009 school year, 10 of those required medical responses for alcohol and four students were transported to the hospital for treatment. There were 14 calls for alcohol-related medical responses, seven of which required transport to the hospital in 2006. Last year, there were 15 calls for medical response and seven transports. The 2007 numbers include two non-affiliates, which would put the exact numbers for students at 13 responses and five transports.

Sophomore Aleck Hiscox, a Community Facilitator in Dunne Hall, said he appreciated the decrease in the number of transports from last year.

"Less transports, at least in my mind, kind of signifies that people are hopefully learning more about alcohol, taking responsibility for their friends and vice versa for themselves as well."

One reason there is a decline in alcohol-related violations may be the new alcohol education program that was implemented this year.

Duncan said 95 percent of first-year students had finished the program before school began.

"This program is different than what the other two classes did. It's a more extensive program focusing on alcohol and alcohol-related issues," Duncan said. "Also, it is a program that has a lot of evidence-based strategies, which means that they're based upon research and then implemented into the program."

The new program has been designed to take into account different individuals' drinking habits, Duncan said.

"It's also tailored toward students," he said. "The previous program didn't distinguish between male and female and drinker and non-drinker."

While he was not prepared to attribute the decline to the new alcohol education programs, Hiscox said he and the rest of the on-campus leadership team had focused on educating their residents this year.

"We wanted to promote responsibility should they choose to drink," he said. "And we wanted to cut down not only on documentations, but especially transports."

Contact Winston Yu at (408) 554-4546 or wyu1@scu.edu.