Camille Dolloff ’11 didn’t stumble as she walked back to Campion Hall one bitter January night. The piercing stench of alcohol didn’t waft from her breath and a bloodshot glaze didn’t cloud her eyes. Her jeans weren’t soggy with stale beer, chunks of vomit didn’t stain her shirt and her words didn’t pile on top of each other when she spoke.
She walked briskly, steadily and soberly down the side of the road.
Shortly after 1:00 a.m., Public Safety escorted Dolloff and a friend to the Health Center for being intoxicated. “I didn’t drink anything at the townhouses,” Dolloff said. “If Public Safety didn’t take me, I would have walked back to Campion, gotten ready for bed and fallen asleep.”
Instead, Dolloff, along with Danielle Massaro ’11, spent three hours at the Health Center, where nurses monitored their blood pressure. The incident report claims that Massaro was seen by Public Safety squatting on the side of the road and appeared to have a wet spot on her pants, according to Dolloff.
“At no point during the night did Danielle squat down to pee,” she said. “Public Safety had no reason to stop.”
“Other people have had similar experiences,” Dolhoff continued. “Public Safety has the authority, and they misuse it.
“It feels like they are out to get you.” “Public Safety is not out to get students,” countered Mike Lauzon, assistant director of Public Safety. “Without students, we wouldn’t have jobs.”
Lauzon said Public Safety is well-equipped to assess students who appear to be under the influence of alcohol.
“All but one of our officers are EMTs,” he said.
“We know how to evaluate students who have been drinking. I helped bring a student up to the Health Center one night who appeared to be a borderline case. A half hour later, he was being shipped to St. Vincent’s in an ambulance. You don’t know at that time how much someone’s had to drink, or how long ago they drank,” said Lauzon. Students must exhibit obvious signs of intoxication in order to be taken to the Health Center, according to Lauzon.
Slurred speech, unsteady gait, and dilated pupils are signs that the officers look for, but each officer is unique in his or her treatment of disciplinary referrals. “It depends on the officers working, really,” said Lauzon. “We’ve got some officers that are really proactive about alcohol, and we’ve got some that are really proactive about motor vehicle violations.
“Either way, if you see 20 people coming out of a townhouse carrying red cups, then you know something is going on.”
Dolloff, an international business major who made the dean’s list first semester, said many students are drinking off-campus to avoid getting in trouble.
Lauzon said local police departments are taking measures to combat underage alcohol consumption and that students caught drinking in off-campus establishments still face disciplinary action with the University.
“They’ve been raiding bars in Bridgeport and Fairfield to crack down on underage drinking and fake identification,” said Lauzon.
“Students nailed off-campus at local bars go to our misconduct board as well, so I think you are going to find the statistics are up there this year,” continued Lauzon. According to the Jeanne Cleary Disclosure Reports, Fairfield reported 756 alcohol violations in 2006. In 2005, the University reported 862 violations. Jeanne DiMuzio, director of Wellness and Prevention, said Fairfield’s alcohol policies are a reaction to changes in the way students are using alcohol.
“Students have increased their high risk drinking-quantity, frequency and the increase in pre-gaming-with dangerous results,” DiMuzio said.
“Having policies that begin to hold students truly accountable for their choices reflects the Jesuit mission of Fairfield,” she said.
A shift in the onset age of drinking has caused students to enter college with established tolerances and practices, which “leads students to continue and increase their consumption as they transition into college,” said DiMuzio.
The removal of kegs on campus and the streamlining of off-campus high-risk alcohol events, such as Clam Jam and keg races, are significant changes that have taken place in recent years, she said. Lauren Gianoni, a sophomore at Sacred Heart University, said, “As long as no one is passed out on the floor, our Public Safety won’t bother you.
“We drink in our rooms, keep the noise at a respectable level, and don’t invite too many people.”
Sacred Heart University’s Public Safety was unavailable for comment.
Lauzon said many students enter college with a lack of knowledge about alcohol, which is part of the reason alcohol abuse is so prevalent on college campuses nationwide.
“They should have been getting alcohol education in high school and at home,” he said.
“Students should know how to drink in a social setting and be responsible about it.”
Dolloff said students are rarely given the opportunity to exhibit responsibility. “If someone is acting truly irresponsible, I think Public Safety handles matters well,” she said.
“But even for those of us who act responsibly, Public Safety can still be a headache.”
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