The signs in Kostka and Claver halls appear clear-cut: “Friend had too much to drink? If you can get your friend to the Health Center without the assistance of security or the Residence Life staff, no one will be entered into the judicial system.”
But students have found actual Fairfield policy is more complicated and can easily lead to judicial punishment.
“I would definitely be hesitant to bring a friend to the Health Center and I know other people who haven’t because they were afraid to get into trouble,” said Shannon Cummings ’06, a resident of Kostka.
“I didn’t expect to get in trouble, since I was brought by my friends to the Health Center,” said Erin McNamara ’06.
Once she was there, the nurse on duty decided that she should go to the hospital. “I did not throw up at the Health Center, and the student court told me that my report said I was ‘awake and alert and talking to the nurse,'” McNamara said.
After her first meeting with judicial, McNamara thought her punishment was sufficient, but she says Kimberly Nickolenko, the director of judicial affairs decided differently.
“She thought that the initial punishment wasn’t enough and added more, despite what the flyer in the bathroom said,” McNamara said.
As a consequence to her trip to the hospital, she received two points on her record, a $50 fine from the school, eight hours of community service at the Health Center, a $50 fee to see a counselor about her “substance abuse problem” and a total of $550 for hospital and ambulance fees.
“My mom called the school and they told her that if I had just gone to the Health Center I would have gotten off with no punishment,” McNamara said. “But once an ambulance is called they have the obligation to call the dean of students.”
Health Center officials said that if a student is brought in with the help of a friend, and does not have to go to the hospital, they will not be entered into judicial. Under these circumstances, the student may still get community service and a letter home. “Every case is different,” they said.
Jennifer Sayre, an assistant from the Office of the Dean of Students, said that when a friend brings in a student, their visit to the Health Center is confidential, as if it were a doctor’s office. If a particular student comes in a couple of times, “someone may decide it’s a problem and we might take it further from there,” she said.
Yet students said the signs in Kostka and Claver are misleading at best.
Jeanne DiMuzio, director of Wellness and Prevention, said her staff probably put up the signs, but they are very old and efforts have been made to take them down.
DiMuzio also said the involvement of judicial with the Health Center is left up to the discretion of the staff. If a student is brought to the Health Center on more than one occasion, they may be referred to judicial, she said.
Boston College, another Jesuit institiution, has a policy similar to Fairfield’s.
“If a student is taken to the Health Center by a friend, there will be no write-up, but if you are taken by an authority, there will be a write-up,” said sophomore Jen Marsh of Boston College.
The Health Center at Fairfield is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
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