News
Alcohol related incidents spark concern, frustration
By Kaitlin McCabe '16
October 4, 2012
Monday found a new, yet familiar email from Dean of Students Nancy Thompson in student’s Hamilton.edu inboxes.
Prefaced by the now-infamous subject “Mad Dog, Vodka and the Jitney,” the email detailed the events of another Saturday night of drunken debauchery at Hamilton. Thompson informed the student body that eleven students required medical assessment for consuming dangerous combinations of alcoholic beverages, such as Mad Dog, an inexpensive low-end fortified wine with an alcohol content of between 13-20 percent ABV. Four of these students were transported to local hospitals for further assistance.
The excessive need for medical support due to alcohol poisoning demanded the attention not only of the majority of the Campus Safety officers on duty, but burdened the Mohawk Valley emergency responders. The number of calls for medical assistance was so great that the community was forced to declare the drunken spectacle at Hamilton a Mass Casualty Incident. By the end of the night, all of the emergency transportation in the Mohawk Valley had been diverted to the campus, leaving the community at large vulnerable in the case of other medical emergencies. Had other incidents requiring emergency assistance of medical care occurred in the region, the Mohawk Valley first responders would have had to request help from towns far away.
Alcohol-related incidents were not limited to cases of medical emergencies. Throughout the night, masses of drunken students wreaked havoc outside of the Sadove Student Center while trying to enter the Jitney for transportation to an off-campus party hosted downtown. Student behavior became threatening and violent as passengers of the Jitney heckled drivers and engaged in dangerous activities, such as attempting to jump out of the moving van and threatening to set the vehicle on fire.
Disgusted by this aggressive and unsafe behavior, Jitney drivers decided to pull late night-service to ensure the safety of passengers and drivers alike. Despite the suspended service into Clinton, Jitneys continued to transport students back up the hill.
“Whenever we went back up the hill to pick up people in the circle, there were storms of people that would run at the jitney, or stand in front of it so that we couldn’t pull up and stop to pick them up. Once it was finally able to stop, people would bang on the windows, rip the door open when it was unlocked, fling themselves in as fast as possible and refuse to get out if it was overcrowded,” said ride-along Louisa Root’13.
Though the drivers acknowledge that operating late-night Jitney service is generally a rowdy affair, the consensus on the matter was that Saturday night’s display of aggression was unacceptable.
“Saturday night was the worst night I have ever driven,” said Ada Horne’13. “But it didn’t exactly come out of nowhere, there have been some pretty bad nights this semester.”
In her e-mail to the school, Nancy Thompson expressed similar feelings of frustration at the pattern of consistent alcohol abuse on campus and the resulting dangerous, disruptive and destructive behaviors.
“I am concerned that so many students choose to drink to the point where their health is in danger, that so many students seem willing to facilitate that,” Dean Thompson said in an address to Student Assembly on Monday night.
However, it has become clear that students are putting more than their own health at risk. By taking advantage of the local emergency transportation and medical care providers and putting the safety of the Mohawk Valley in jeopardy, this weekend’s events have tarnished Hamilton’s reputation in the community.
Members of the Student Assembly attributed this negative conception of Hamilton to student’s belief in a lack of consequence for acting inappropriately and causing chaos while intoxicated. They concluded that students are either unable or unwilling to address the rampant drinking culture and subdue violent, threatening and unsafe behavior.
Students’ reaction to the events of the weekend has ranged from disgust to mockery. In the days following Dean Thompson’s email, the phrase “Mad Dog, Vodka, and the Jitney” was found plastered across social media pages, popular blogs and at the center of casual conversation across campus.
At the same time, both students and administrators continue to express a desire for change.
“Students create the community that we live in,” Dean Thompson insists. “Drinking is a problem created by a minority of students. The majority can apply the pressure to change that.”