 "Photo: N/A")
This Halloween saw more calls to Vassar College Emergency Medical Services (EMS) than any other night in the history of EMS’s record keeping. There were 20 calls to EMS, four of which had to be passed straight to the Arlington Fire Department because EMS was too occupied to take them. Eleven students signed medical releases, and five students were sent to the hospital.
These numbers demonstrate an all-around increase of EMS calls from last Halloween, when 12 students called EMS. Of those 12, six signed medical releases, six were sent to Baldwin and none were sent to the hospital.
When EMT personnel Samuel Black ’12, who was on call on Halloween night, first presented these facts to the Vassar Student Association (VSA) Council at their meeting on Nov. 1, many members were alarmed. However, EMS captain Michael Faba ’10 explained that EMS “always [has] trouble figuring out if the increase in calls corresponds to an increase in drinking,” so students should not be quick to “establish a causal correlation between the figures.”
Faba has analyzed the EMS statistics from the past eight years, which he said show that there are many variables in any given night or year that contribute to the number of calls, but cannot be
accounted for. Therefore, the numbers do not always indicate what they seem to.
Faba explained that it is possible that the numbers reflect students’ increased trust in EMS rather than an increase in the number of students who drink or how much they drink on Halloween night. He advised the board to consider “the effect that increased awareness of EMS on campus has.”
Faba pointed out that many of the calls EMS received were not necessarily as serious as they have been in the past. He feels that because students know that they can trust EMS, they call more frequently with less serious issues, just to be safe.
However, Faba also noted that he actually expected a greater number of hospital visits than there were as a result of Baldwin Medical Center no longer being open at night. Most of the serious calls that EMS did receive were for students who had forgotten to eat dinner before drinking, despite the amount of free food that the College tried to supply the students with.
At the VSA meeting, there were a number of theories as to why this Halloween EMS received more calls than ever. Many agreed that the cancellation of the bonfire due to the rain may have contributed. Noyes House President Hannah Groch-Begley ’12 explained that because of the cancellation, “people who would have maybe done two shots before the party spent an hour playing a drinking game.”
VSA Auditor Mathew Leonard ’11, acting as a proxy for Cushing House President Victoria Russo ’12, pointed out that although Vassar worked hard to remind students to be safe and responsible on Halloween, the many signs such as “Don’t be a Puking Pumpkin” and “Don’t let the Disguise Change who you are” actually “instill in you that everyone gets really drunk on this holiday,” which may have caused students to drink more than they normally would.
Although the general consensus was that the alternative programming helped reduce the amount of drinking this Halloween, Class of 2010 President Selina Strasburger commented, “I had a mentality going into this that we weren’t going to be able to make a big difference…I don’t think alternative programming will be as successful as people hope it will be.”
Davison House President Louise Conner ’11 added, “I think drinking is going to happen…we just have to accept that as a fact.” VSA Vice President for Finance Scott Pascal ’10 agreed, referring to the drinking as “unavoidable.”
Town House President Riley Greene ’10 noted that it was “awesome that [the administration] gave us food.” However, she was told that they could not order enough for everyone who wanted it. “I realize it’s very generous, but it could be more generous,” she said.
Faba guessed that “it’s not the party itself” that causes the increased drinking on Halloween. However, he argued, “the fact that the event is going on does have an impact on student behavior.” Pascal agreed, pointing out that “the majority of the calls and the most intoxicated students were in their rooms. I don’t see how alternative programming can fix that.” He also stated that, “people feel like ‘I have to get this drunk to go to the party,’” so they stay in their rooms to pre-game.
Because Carn-evil may have encouraged some students to drink, VSA President Caitlin Ly ’10 stated that the administration was very worried about holding the party this year, and she fears that “moving into next year the administration will be pushing harder to not have the all-campus party.”
Ly also pointed out that “we send more students to the hospital on this one night than we do on Founder’s Day, which is just unrealistic.” Therefore, she stated that something must be done to change this trend in the future.
Despite the feelings that students will inevitably be drinking on Halloween, there were a number of ideas on how to avoid recurrences of this year’s problem. VSA Vice President for Activities Aaron Grober ’11 called for more attractive alternative programming, while Conner advocated for a greater emphasis on responsible drinking instead of encouraging students to abstain from drinking altogether. Greene proposed that next year during the week before Halloween, the statistics about this year should be published to remind students that safety on campus is a real issue.
Greene also suggested a frank talk between seniors and freshman with no administration involved. This would be a good chance for the seniors to share stories and realistic information with freshman. She also suggested that senior housing would probably be the safest place for freshman to be on Halloween because they wouldn’t be able to get much alcohol.
Strasburger said that she initially suggested that a good idea might be for the administration to allow senior housing to register parties and explicitly invite freshman, so that they would be drinking beer instead of hard liquor. However, the administrators had shot the idea down.
This year, Lathrop House set up a studio space in the dorm’s basement to take pictures of people in their costumes. According to Lathrop House President Alessandra Schmidt ’12, this filled a lot of the time that was created by the cancellation of the bonfire. She reported that it didn’t seem like people had had a lot of time to drink, as this event got them out of their rooms.
VSA Vice President for Academics Stephanie Damon-Moore ’11 asked, “Is there something we can do to change the culture on campus?”—referring to the perceived Halloween culture that is filled with drinking. Damon-Moore suggested that the drinking mentality that surrounds certain events is a greater issue that needs to be given thought. She asked rhetorically, “Why is this day different than all others?”
To that effect, Strasburger commented that if the mentality surrounding Halloween is ever going to be changed, it will have to be done over time, so that eventually the freshman will not be told that Halloween is a crazy drinking holiday. Strasburger is hopeful that the upcoming classes will work hard to change the mentality associated with Halloween so that no future Halloweens will rival this one in terms of EMS calls and hospital visits.
1 comments