Clubs work to adapt to new policy

In light of Public Safety’s new policy of notifying the Princeton Borough Police of every alcohol-related transport request made on Prospect Avenue, eating club presidents have begun advising members on how to handle situations in which intoxicated students need assistance. While many clubs say they will still call for help if the situation demands it, they have strongly advised members to remember that the officers on duty should be the first line of help.

In the past, when Public Safety would receive an alcohol-related call from the Street, a DPS officer would arrive and assess the situation. If the student was not dangerously ill but simply needed to be monitored, the officer would transport him or her to McCosh Health Center with no further consequences for the intoxicated student or the student who made the call. If the intoxicated student needed to be taken to the University Medical Center at Princeton, DPS would notify the Borough Police and an ambulance transport would be arranged.

Interclub Council president and Cloister Inn president Jake Sally ’12 told The Daily Princetonian in an email last week that he fears some students may hesitate to call for a friend in need because they worry about interacting with the police or do not think their friend needs to go to UMCP. Though PBPD Captain Nicholas Sutter said his department is not insistent on charging students for underage drinking and that intoxicated students would not automatically be brought to the hospital, club presidents are nonetheless advising members to see an officer before making the call.

Tower Club president Joey Barnett ’12 said he sent club members an email “reminding them to notify officers on duty when someone is unwell in the slightest, so that we can make the necessary emergency call immediately after assessing the situation as CPR- and first aid-trained individuals,” he wrote in an email to the ‘Prince.’ “All of the present officers’ numbers are also now given out via email to the club when we open up for the night.”

In the email, Barnett told members that they should first notify an officer if they see someone in need of assistance. He assured that the officers, who are all trained in CPR and first aid, are prepared to assist in bringing the student to McCosh or calling PBPD for a hospital transport. He warned students that if they call DPS or PBPD without consulting a Tower officer first, the police would have sole control over the students’ destination. Barnett is also an associate editor for opinion for the ‘Prince.’

Colonial Club president Susan Zhang ’12 had a similar message for her club’s membership, advising them in an email to alert an officer before calling the police. She added that the club may change which students the bouncers let into the club on tap nights.

“We’re probably just going to be a little more strict on the threshold at which we determine who is ‘intoxicated’ and who is not,” Zhang said in an email. “From the viewpoint of the clubs, this is a tremendous amount of additional stress that we have to take on during our party nights, as it may now very well be the case for students to drink elsewhere, wander into the clubs and then have liability fall upon whichever club they venture into.”

In an email to Cloister’s membership, Sally advised members to consult an officer or simply take intoxicated friends back to their rooms to avoid a transport to UMCP and to spare the club police inquiries. He also requested that members alert officers if they see police or an ambulance anywhere near the club.

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Tiger Inn president Jeff Cole ’12 said the club did not increase the emphasis on alerting officers of a student in need, as the safety patrol system the club has in place will continue unaltered.

“We have several students whose sole job for the night is to help students in need,” Cole said in an email. “Five members are sober, wear yellow shirts and are responsible for roaming the club to make sure no one is overly intoxicated.”

Though many presidents said they were upset with the new policy, they also said they were concerned that the University has not had sufficient communication with the clubs or the students about the change and did not give the student body any information about the policy change.

“We would like to see the University come forward and inform and educate all undergraduates, not just members of eating clubs, on the implications of this new arrangement,” Cap & Gown Club president Derek Grego ’12 said in an email.

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Terrace Club president Ricardo Lopez ’12 confirmed in an email that he had notified the club of the policy change and said that Terrace would not be changing its internal policies.

Charter Club president Daniel Fletcher ’12 declined to comment. Presidents Caroline Shifke ’12 of Ivy Club, Julia Blount ’12 of Quadrangle Club and Rory Wilsey ’12 of Cottage Club could not be reached for comment.