In the last month, according to DePauw University’s Public Safety’s Active Report, there have been a total of eight students transported to Putman City Hospital due to overconsumption of alcohol.
The majority of the hospital visits were during the Halloween and Monon weekends.
“We interact with some people just because we are worried about them and want to make sure they are okay,” said Director of Public Safety Angie Nally.
According to Nally, last weekend the four students that were transported to Putnam County Hospital were very cooperative.
At DePauw University students found with a Blood Alcohol Content (BAC) higher than .25 are transported to the hospital and are required to undergo medical evaluation.
“It is a difficult place to be in when you know someone needs medical clearance and they are trying to work against you because after they are released from the hospital public safety is often times responsible for picking them up and bringing them back to campus,” said Nally.
If a student is caught resisting aid from Public Safety or not complying they can run into larger issues with the university.
Students who are transported to the hospital are then reported to Community Standards, which consists of a review team that decides if a policy violation of the code of conduct has occurred. Community Standards board then has the ability to determine such consequences.
“Public Safety was called on behalf of one student because he was having behavior issues along with being intoxicated,” reported Nally. “Two of them just happened to be in the same place at the same time as public safety and they were presenting high signs of intoxication for which we felt the need to check on their level of intoxication and unfortunately their level of BAC’s were very high.”
Risk was properly managed and none of the four incidents occurred at the expense of a fraternity house or on fraternity property.
According to Nally, providing risk management is crucial. Risks that frequently can cause issues at fraternities include over crowding, managing door duty and the awareness to stop serving someone who should no longer be capable of being served.
Sophomore and Vice President of Risk Management for Alpha Chi Omega Lex Gaumer agrees.
“Risk management is important because everyone deserves to feel safe on this campus regardless of the circumstances,” said Gaumer. “Nobody should be afraid to have a good time because they are worried about what could come from it but if a good risk management team is put in place, it makes people feel relaxed and allows for people to easily approach the identified managers in case they ever need help or need an extra set of hands based on whatever the situation might be.
Gaumer is also a student volunteer for the CATS, Chapter Assisting Trained Students, program on campus, which is made up of 2-3 members of each Greek house on campus.
“I think the CATS program is a great way for Greek chapters to band together and help each other,” said Gaumer. “It's such a simple job, that's goes such a long way. You still get to go out and have a good time too, so really it's a win all around.”
When there are registered parties on campus a team of usually 6-8 people affiliated with the CATS attend and monitor the registered parties by handing out water bottles and pizza.
“I think CATS is important because we really are there to help students and helping students is our only priority,” said sophomore and CATS team member Clair Halffield.
Although risk was properly managed there was one non-student hospital transport that was the result of a safe community clause call on Friday night.
DePauw’s student handbook mirrors a similar philosophy as the Indiana Lifeline Law, in this case any individual or organization that calls for medical help for another individual will not have any pending community standards or charges.
“The organization that called for the non-student on Friday night did receive a letter of thanks from the office of Public Safety and the Greek team saying how much we appreciate that they would put that persons safety as a priority,” reported Nally.
Nally and the Public Safety team shared their appreciation for those students who provided their risk services and showed great acts of responsibility throughout the weekend.
“I did see some great acts of responsibly by students and especially appreciate Delta Upsilon for cleaning up at Wabash,” said Nally.
Meggan Johnston, the Director of Intervention Program was unable to comment.