For those of you who have made yourselves popular with the officials in the judicial department, the fun’s over.
As of this year, a change has been made in the university’s point policy, the sanctioning system for alcohol-related violations.
“Students now can only work off four points during their entire four years here at Fairfield,” said Jeanne DiMuzio, director of wellness and prevention.
In the past, students have been allowed to attend an unlimited amount of alcohol classes, making it much easier to maintain a clean slate in alcohol-related violations. Due to this change, students now have a greater chance of accumulating more points, leading to higher fines and a higher possibility of suspension from school.
“It’s already so easy to all of a sudden have four points from getting in trouble. I can’t imagine what will happen now,” said Liz Cummings, ’03.
Depending on the nature of the offense and how many times the student has gotten in trouble, students can receive one or more points when they are caught breaking the rules of Fairfield’s Community Standards.
Let’s say “Mary” from Jogues gets caught walking down her hallway with an open beer container by the R.A. on duty.
The R.A. will fill out a report of the incident and send it to the judicial department.
After scheduling an appointment, Mary meets with a judicial officer to discuss her alcohol violation. In most cases, Mary would receive two points on her record and would have to pay a $50 fine. To diminish these two points, Mary would have to attend two different alcohol point classes that are taught by DiMuzio.
If it happens that a student has accumulated six or more of these points, they will be required to leave Fairfield University for a minimum of a full semester.
“I think it’s a fair policy. I’ve never really seen it as a problem,” said Liz McBain, ’04.
The point system, as stated in the Fairfield University Student Handbook, was designed to give the responsible student an opportunity to participate in an educational process to learn about the negative and dangerous effects of alcohol.
DiMuzio explains that it is meant to help a student move away from high risk choices and also gain some knowledge they can use further down the road. “And not just nutritional knowledge, like gaining the freshman 15, but facts about alcohol, that it is a drug, and one of the most addictive.”
In past years, DiMuzio has not only seen students sporadically attend point classes, but she has seen students attend seven or eight alcohol point classes without changing their behavior.
“My personal hope is that the students will use that first entrance into the judicial system as an opportunity to reflect on their personal choices and value systems,” said DiMuzio.
Being only able to reduce four points was introduced mainly to demonstrate to students how serious their offense is.
Tom Grzybowski, ’06, believes that it isn’t necessarily a negative change. “As long as you can make up the points, it’s not that bad.”
However, Scott Sayman, ’03, disagrees.
“The rules on alcohol should be less serious on campus because I think kids are going to drink anyway,” Sayman said. “Drinking and driving on campus should be looked at more seriously instead. I think this school should concentrate on offering more activities to do on campus, instead of dealing with everything in a disciplinary approach.”
Colin McRee, ’06, also believes that the university is too strict on alcohol violations. “We don’t have frats or sororities, and cops go to beach parties too early and break them up. Security is always around the townhouses.”
“It only leaves us with one more option, which is to have some fun privately with our great friends in our dorm rooms,” McRee added.
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