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There are 77 comments on Alcohol Enforcement Patrols

  1. As a parent I am happy about the increased police/authority presence and, also, believe the statistical information is valuable both to the student and separately as a lead-in to conversations about drinking, about judgement, about responsible behavior, about ways to be a part of the ‘scene’ without drinking.

    1. Debra D, I understand your position as a parent, though perhaps you could suggest some things us students can do to be a part of the “scene?” I’d love to try some of these out!

  2. Thanks for spending our money so wisely, BU. Cracking down on the drinking of college kids, excuse me, adults, is a superb use of resources. Many make the mistake in assuming that students of BU caliber should be capable of using their own judgement on how they have fun in their free time. Ah, to be so naive. Truly, we need big brother to protect us from ourselves.

    1. You’re 100% correct Joe. I don’t know what I’d do if the fantastic Boston Police weren’t making my campus experience a safe one. I, for one, think drinking is a terrible thing that college students, oh wait, adults, should not have a choice to partake in. The Boston Police are the greatest!!! :):):):)

    2. Joe, are you aware of how many girls each year get raped because they drank too much at a college party? It is more than is recorded by the police. Too many college boys think its OK to keep handing women drinks and then take advantage of them after they are laying on someone’s bed half conscious. Undergrads never understand the things that can happen at a college party until someone gets hurt. Lastly, just because you are 18 does not mean you are intelligent. Everyone is a stupid freshman. No one is exempt from this fact of life. After college it will sink in how stupid you are when you were in undergrad (at least I hope so).

      1. This may be 100% true, BUT, is it not the young girls responsibility to manage her own drinking? Is a frat boy offering a drink to a girl an order or some offer that can’t be refused? I think not.. Let’s not waste valuable tuition dollars to have a greater police presence, use them for academics and let ADULTS be responsible for themselves. There is no excuse for winding up half conscious on a bed at a party, unless you were irresponsible and didn’t watch your own drinking

      2. Every girl is still responsible for their own alcohol intake. It’s stupid and condescending to have to resort to police intervention to stop girls from drinking too much. If any girl or guy drinks too much it’s not alcohol’s fault and it never will be. If these girls are that weak in character that they can’t turn down another drink when they’ve had too much, then they will eventually get their wake up call anyway, rape or no rape.

        1. I know this is an old post, but I still felt the need to address your comment Michael. Girls don’t only get raped because of their own high alcohol intake at parties, but by their drinks that are often slipped, and by drunk violent frat guys. I think we all need to realize that someone who abused alcohol can affect those who drank a minimal amount to nothing. So instead of looking at this from the perspective of someone who wants to carelessly party and abuse alcohol, we should be more open minded and realize that several people becomes victims of those who abuse alcohol.

          FYI… it was really insensitive of you to call rape a possible wake up call. Just saying…

    1. As someone who reularly got hammered in college (and probably still do so more than I should), I understand your concern about Big Brother but find it hard to get too worked up about it. Drinking is part of college. So is avoiding “The Man”. I can’t imagine its a whole lot different than when I was in school 30 years ago. It’s all part of the game and it serves you well later in life. But, seriously, get over to the history department and learn something about Hitler and the SS before you expose your idiocy with comments like this.

  3. I completely agree with the comment above from Joe. I respect the fact that the school is looking out for underage drinking, but is it really necessary to have a weekly “scorecard”? How about instead reporting weekly on how many recent graduates have been able to leverage the $50k that we are spending as parents on tuition, and turning that into jobs for the class of 2011? Now that would be an interesting “scorecard”.

    1. The scorecard isn’t about people who drink … it’s about people who drink and get taken to the hospital. It’s about alcohol related “violations”. It’s about citations, and arrests.

      As for leveraging the tuition money into jobs, as a business owner and a parent, let me say that I don’t want to hire a drunk who somes to work hungover and gets arrested for drinking on Friday nights. Also, if someone’s son has to be taken to the hospital for drinking, that kid shouldn’t be worried about a job after BU, he should be worried about his life after BU.

  4. You can call it a scorecard or whatever. But, honestly wouldn’t it be nice if when you checked it each week you might find that the numbers have gone down. Even if it’s a small amount. Maybe someone choose to do something different for a change. If this whole thing starts conversations among the issue of underage drinking whether it’s among students or parents and students, then that’s good to.

    1. The numbers are never going to go down. That’s the whole point. BU doesn’t WANT the numbers to go down. They want parents to see the numbers and think, ‘Oh my! BU sure is doing a great job enforcing the drinking age and safe decisions! I’ll keep spending gross amounts of money for my child to attend this school!’ There is absolutely nothing that anyone can do to stop college kids from drinking, doing drugs, throwing/attending parties, and making generally irresponsible decisions. Absolutely nothing. The biggest reason for that is because we’ve never had a chance to be this irresponsible before in our lives and we never will have it again… because people don’t drink or do drugs once they’ve graduated college, right? Oh wait, no, that’s not right. So the rules are generally hypocritical as well. It should be obvious but people are blinded by this “scorecard.” If you get transported to the hospital for alcohol intoxication and you’re under the age of 21, it is possible for you to come out of the situation with a bill upwards of $2000: apparently that’s what fun costs these days.

      Imagine this scenario: BUPD is lurking around the Allston party scene trying to bust some parties and take kids who are, drunk, yes, but not in any danger whatsoever, to the hospital just so they can post this scorecard and have it be true and give all the parents some ephemeral peace of mind. They find a kid on the street who has had 6 drinks and is in no danger whatsoever of alcohol poisoning–he’s just drunk–they breathalyze him, and transport him to the hospital. Now this kid has to pay a hospital bill, an ambulance fee, and a lawyer for his court summons. He was just trying to blow off steam because his chemistry professor made it literally impossible for any of the students to get above a 50 on the last exam and because of that one test, he can no longer go to med school. And what about the older man with the heart condition who lives one neighborhood over? Tonight happens to be the night that his ticker stops ticking and he needs an ambulance to get to the hospital. Unfortunately, it’s not available though because it’s stuffed with BU students who didn’t actually need it. Not to mention the fact that these numbers that BUPD is putting aren’t even impressive. 8 alcohol-related court summonses? How many kids do you think they COULD’VE given it to that night?

      ***If BU ACTUALLY wanted to give parents an ACCURATE picture of what the weekend scene looks like, they would take a poll of the students. Except they would never do that, because then parents wouldn’t send their kids here.***

      Mentality is relative to age, not time. 40 years ago, the BU administration, BUPD officers, and the parents who love these “statistics” were doing the same thing that college students are doing now, probably even to a more intense degree. What has changed? Nothing. Except for the fact that the moneysick institutions have found a way to squeeze more cash out of it… like I said, they’ve put a price on fun.

      So these scorecards should be about as nourishing to the mind of a parent as the unavailable ambulance is to the dying man who really needed it: not at all.

      1. okay, do you have any idea how absolutely ridiculous you sound…? a dying man isn’t saved because ALL the ambulances in ALL of Boston are taken for the couple of kids BU transports?

        And they are not transported because they’re drunk, they’re transported if they’re in danger because of how drunk they’ve gotten. To say that BU sends kids to the hospital just because they’ve had a couple drinks is absolutely outrageous. For you to make up the story above (which is absolute bull) is even more outrageous. I can’t even believe how over dramatic you’re being..

        1. And I would like to point out that no where in these statistics is it claiming that the students are under the drinking age. For all we know the students going to the hospital could be 21 or 25. What’s important is to note how many are drinking in such large quantities that they are at risk of killing themselves.

          And on that note to those making the claim of “I’m 18, I’m an adult, I can make my own bad decisions, it’s my life, BU shouldn’t interfere” I want to remind you #1 – you chose to come here. You don’t like it, you don’t like how the police are spending their money, stop giving the University your money and go somewhere else. #2 – take a development psychology class. Science shows us that the brain of an 18 year old is not finished being developed yet in the area that it responsible for decision making and impulse control.

  5. Two weeks ago, an underage college drinker at a party in my building had to be rushed to the ER at 2am because he drank himself comatose. So if the BUPD turning into the party police prevents students from killing themselves, then it’s worthwhile. Since dead undergrads is kind of a bad thing.

    1. Yes Dan agreed. Dead undergrads are a bad thing. When I looked at the statistics I was shocked to see how often people go to the hospital each week. I remember as an undergrad always being aware that this situation could happen but it always seemed like a rare occurrence. Apparently that’s because no one talked about it.
      I think these statistics are great because it brings awareness to the students who might realize yeah this does happen and it happens right on their campus every weekend. So maybe they will drink more responsibly and be alive in the morning.

    2. Dead undergrads are avoided by allowing said undergrads to drink in a bar, which is a controlled enviroment with regulated drinks ect. Deaths from alchol are caused by people drinking in seedy allston basements from jugs full of who knows what % alchol.

  6. These scorecards just inspire us to break new records every week.

    Also they’re completely useless as they have no indication whether alcohol consumption increased or decreased during a certain weekend, and only shows the amount of people that got caught. This is entirely dependent due to circumstance and more outside variables than merely the police. For example, I predict this weekend’s numbers will be lower because we have mid terms next week. The #’s can be shown to say anything you want them to, and trying to credit BU or the police for any change in these statistics is utter bulls*&@.

    Sincerely, the responsible drinkers of BU

  7. last time I checked, most college kids, are not adults at least in the sense of legal drinking. Stupid is as stupid does. Thanks law enforcement, saving children of parents, relatives, friends and who love and care and worry for them,and their future lives as well. And in this economy, start fining the students, writing tickets, collect some income for your trouble and that of the university staff, city police and other officials that have to take care of these cases in emergency rooms as well. Either the student will become more responsible when their parents discipline and threaten to take their spoiled derrieres out of college and make them get one of those jobs that dont exist, or the income can be used to start detox and AA programs on campus.

    1. Earn some income? Is the 50K tuition not enough? Does the 80% above market pricing dorm rate not generate supplemental income?

      This is silly. We’re at a “Top 50″ school because we clearly have demonstrated some form of responsibility and discipline to get here. Or maybe is the 50K check that floats in each year. Either way, we know well enough that this investment in no joke. We understand the commitment that we have to ourselves and our families to create a marketable individual who can still get hired in this down economy. But between our week long sessions of slaving at Mugar Library, is it so much to ask to be able to get together with friends and enjoy a social gathering? Do we really need to be paying 3 different police departments to occupy Allston, completely removed from their jurisdiction Thursday night through Saturday, and glorify it as some sort of battle for the greater good?

      I’m calling shenanigans; this is a waste. Many of Allston’s true issues stem from the current non-student population occupying it and the ‘slumlords’ who own the properties. Do some research on the area, maybe an info-graphic with robbery, assault, gang-related activity etc would by more worrisome to parents than the alcohol and noise issues. Want to make a real change? Crack down on the crackhead infestation in Allston; the story about the clerk at City Convenience being held up at ‘syringe point” is a hell of a lot more concerning than your neighbor’s excessive music and noise.

      1. Are you kidding me? Do you know how many girls each year get raped at a college party because too much drinking was going on? Just because someone is 18 and book smart does not mean they are life smart or a good person. I am a graduate student. I get sick of the bars just because they are so many creepy men there. College students are life stupid and do not know how to handle alcohol.

        1. Jess- what on earth is your argument? Just because someone is 18 they are not “life smart or a good person.” Okay, fine. But you get sick of the bars where there are so many creepy men…who are 21 and older? I’m not sure what you’re trying to say here because your argument only proves that people of legal drinking age are no better than undergrads. I think maybe the issue we have with rape is not with alcohol, but with bad people. Perhaps instead of spending the thousands upon thousands of dollars we pay in tuition on cracking down on underage drinking, BU should use a little more discretion in who they accept into their student body! Maybe one day BU will realize that recommendation letters from high school lacrosse coaches who dip Skoal with their students are NOT accurate depictions of the applicants personality and morals. (Don’t take this this wrong way- I’m not commenting on athletes, I’m commenting on the meathead assholes who are, lets face it, the cause for a LOT of the problems in terms of these statistics)

  8. What is with the Marijuana Citations? Why not Tobacco Citations? Isn’t Tobacco an obviously more dangerous substance and just as illegal inside the dorms?

    Seriously – Wouldn’t Bicycle Citations and Jaywalking Citations fit in better with the high risk behaviour of alcohol abuse?

  9. I’m so happy my parents, who, like most members of the BUPD and and BU Administration, spent ages 18-21 getting hammered at least once a weekend, understand the ridiculousness of obsessively patrolling Allston parties while every weekend people get robbed, bikes get stolen, and sexual assaults happen on our own campus… unlike some of the parents who are reading this article and cheering.

    an anecdote: on a particular night a few weekends ago, I heard that a few parties got busted between 1am-2am. Coincidentally (not coincidentally?) 2am was the same time that I was walking home alone (the person I was going to walk home with was not answering) and I was followed, for six blocks of BU’s CAMPUS, by some sketchball. While I recognize that I should not have been walking home alone (still, since it was after 2, not like I could have called the escourt service) where was the BUPD when I badly needed assistance? Oh right. Busting parties in Allston.

    Lame.

  10. leighann, you are severely misinformed. Citizens of the United States are legally adults at age 18. I’m not sure how you would come to any other conclusion. I apologize if you’re from another country where it is not so. I think we’d be better off using your money to create a task force to follow you around and make sure you aren’t eating too much McDonald’s. It’s not healthy, and there are sons and daughters, etc. that care about you!

  11. this is christian and moral facism taking place. why doesn’t the government do something useful like get murderers and rapists off the street.

  12. Funny how BU is launching this crusade against underage drinking when freshmen can buy BU licensed shot glasses inside the Warren Towers convenience store. I’m sure they’re using them for soda, right? Sounds like someone’s trying to cash in on both ends of the deal…

  13. I have followed this whole situation the past few weeks and I find it interesting that the comments are downright mean. I noticed a lot of posts contain comments about how their money is being spent. Who’s paying for the alcohol when the weekend comes around ? I also wonder how many of the posts are from people who are on a Scholarship. If you get busted, are you prepared to lose that Scholarship ? I don’t mean to come off as a prude, but seriously is it really worth it to go out and get so wasted you are scraping your friends up off the floor or sidewalk. Or you don’t remember what happened the night before or where all your money went ? Just for the heck of it, just once, try going to one of these parties and not drink. Just stand back and watch what happens around you. It may prove to be pretty interesting.

  14. Here’s the real bottom line: Alchohol is a harmful drug that is completely unnecessary to facilitate “having a good time”. Do your parents drink? Yeah, probably. Do your friends drink? Almost certainly. Do you have a mind of your own? Not likely.

    Picking and choosing what laws you will obey is also childish. If you want someone arrested for driving in the bike lane (or rape, or murder, or child abuse…), then you can’t fault the police for enforcing the legal age limit for alcohol consumption.

    You’re in college… That doesn’t mean you have the right to drink illegaly. It should mean that you have enough sense to not drink.

    1. “Picking and choosing what laws you will obey is also childish”

      I’m sorry but I can’t let you get away with saying that. Civil disobedience is not childish, it is a civic responsibility. Was MLK being childish when he chose not to obey laws that discriminated against his race? A law that discriminates against a person’s age (when that person is a legal adult) is a law that deserves to be ignored.

      1. Are you kidding? Trying to compare MLK and the cause he championed to getting a drink? The more I read from these BU students the more I think spoiled brats. Well said Donna s.! Your parents would be proud that you have your head screwed on straight. With my own child as a freshman, I’ve heard a lot of “I’m an adult now, I’m in college”. Fortunately she has made mention of the same as you…thinking it’s stupid to go out to just get busted. Being an adult doesn’t give someone under 21 the right to be stupid and get drunk. How many go to these parties and are mature enough to have let’s say 2 drinks? I think the mentality is “I paid at the door I’m gonnna get my money’s worth”. No that’s immature and not being an adult. As parents shelling out big $ for an education, we have every right to see our $ being spent to protect those attending. Donna s. put it well is it worth risking scholarship? Guess there are a lot of “rich” kids out there that don’t have to worry as mommy and daddy are paying the full 55k. Being an adult means being financially independent….since that’s NOT the case for all students, stop the WINING, suck it up and stop the entitled mentality. That’s a learning process in itself, because in four short yrs you will be out on your own and NO one will be giving you anything…you have to EARN it. Get over yourselves it’s just a little alcohol. It’s extra calories, kills brain cells etc. Everything in moderation, but unfortunately those under 21 tend to over indulge. It puts then at risk and public safety too. Ie: drunken student falls onto T tracks then caring sober person jumps in to save the fool and gets hurt too. Cmon, grow up! The BU student is bright and intelligent, so act that way.

        1. It’s not entitlement at all, many of us are sick of being coddled by a society which still has inane laws on the books. Is the judgment of a 20-year-old really that much worse than a 21-year-old? It really has nothing to do with age, certain people may be naturally-inclined to behave more “responsibly” than others. Instead of assuming that people magically become responsible at a certain age, responsible drinking is something that parents should be instilling in their kids even before they become legal adults. It’s the model that works in all the western world, with the notable exception of us. And the reason so many people are upset about these enforcement patrols is because we’re paying BU for an education and a degree, not to be our big brother. If we hadn’t been responsible enough to go to college, we’d already be in the “real world.” But because we chose to improve our life prospects (and get saddled with thousands of dollars in loans), we’re stuck with this “phased adulthood” nonsense. BU is a place to learn, and outside of the classroom it should get out of our business.

          1. Yeah, call me when u grow up, have kids and a paying $100k year for them and THEN we can talk about age and maturity, laws to protect general population etc. Sorry, I have no problem with BU helping to keep kids safe and bring awareness of zero tolerance.

  15. This is an insanely poor use of resources… both the actual “enforcement” and everything that went into making this webpage. I hope the people making this page and graphics for these “statistics” are learning something about computers, because that’s the only value this page has. Thas is, other than showing us how two-faced and unwilling to put effort into actual positive actions the BU administrators really are.

  16. Can I get a statistics teacher’s opinion on how accurate these “statistics” are? And how useful they are in showing anything related to underage alcohol consumption?

  17. here is the thing, linking drinking to mindless in your statement is insulting, as i’m sure many are, but there are people that are taught to drink responsibly. knowing that some laws are just chicken sh*t. 90% of the countries in the world has a drinking age of 18 or less, so your analogy to rape and murder is flawed. btw there are some many schools where the campus cop could give a flying f*ck whether students drink or not. BUPD is making student’s life miserable while not changing any thing in the real world.

  18. Many of you are missing the point here…

    Like it or not, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts has a law that clearly states it is illegal to purchase, possess or consume alcohol if you are under the age of 21.

    The cost of tuition at Boston University has nothing to do with this. Nothing whatsoever.

    How the University and/or the City choose to route its resources has nothing to do with the tuition at BU.

    These are not laws established by BUPD and/or the City of Boston Police. BUPD and the City of Boston Police are, however, responsible for upholding the laws and responding to neighborhood concerns as well as the safety/security of the students and residents within their jurisdiction.

    Sadly – and you are welcome to agree/disagree – we have become a society where litigation is a concern for members of the campus community: college administrators, parents and students.

    It’s safe to say that if 4 or 5 students were sitting in a house, watching a movie or a sporting event, laughing, enjoying themselves, having a cold beer or perhaps a glass of wine with the movie/game – it is HIGHLY unlikely that any law enforcement agency is going to interrupt.

    On the flip-side, in the “GAP” area, larger house parties are the norm on weekends. Underage students flock to houses, where they are served by, in some cases, underage hosts – and often in an environment that violates housing codes as well as alcohol laws.

    In some cases, the alcohol served is mixed in trash cans – where it is difficult to determine what is being served (called “jungle juice” among other things, as I recall?) In other cases, red Solo cups are dispensed, filled with keg beer or mixed drinks – easy targets for those who might want to slip a ‘rufi’ (also known as a date rape drug) into a drink with the pretense of taking advantage of another while under the influence.

    These large gatherings tend to draw unwanted attention to the hosts – noise, high pedestrian traffic in the streets, vandalism, etc… And with that attention – police often respond.

    I understand and appreciate that as college students, many of you feel entitled to have a good time. And you should have fun! When that “fun” translates into violating laws… When that “fun” translates into a student being robbed while walking home, because they are drunk… When that “fun” translates into a woman becoming the victim of a sexual assault… When that “fun” translates into someone getting injured (or possibly dying) as a result of being intoxicated – how much “fun” was really had?

    With litigation comes accountability and responsibility.

    Let’s fast forward 18 years for a moment. Andrew, Sam and Joe (just names for the sake of discussion – I am not calling you out specifically) – imagine receiving a call from BUPD or the City of Boston Police, indicating that your daughter was rushed to BMC because she was the victim of a sexual assault that involved excessive drinking and/or drugs at an off-campus party. Imagine receiving a call that your son was hit by the “T” and killed because he was so intoxicated, he was unable to gauge how far the train was while trying to cross the street. You would want “justice” to be served against the individuals who were involved.

    Accountability and responsibility – thru the eyes of an attorney – will include the host(s), among many others.

    Now… return to Fall 2011. Would any of YOU want to be the person held accountable and/or responsible? I think not. Your future… your career… your $50k in tuition for the 2011-12 academic year – may very well be the least of your worries.

    Try as you may… I see zero connection with the cost of your tuition and the laws of the Commonwealth.

    I do, however, see using resources – including Resident Assistants, Security Assistants, as well as law enforcement – as money well spent.

    You have a choice – as a consumer. If you are not happy with the way BU spends your tuition dollars – go somewhere else. With 41,000+ applicants for a class of slightly over 4,000 admitted – there are many who would have loved your space. As abrupt as that sounds – if you are not happy with the policies and procedures and you feel these are exclusive to BU – go someplace else! Go where you can legally be served as a minor… go where you can legally serve minors… go where you can legally host a hundred people in a house designed with occupancy limits of 25… go where it is acceptable to spill out into the streets and disrupt year-round families and residents who call Allston and Brighton “home.”

    You don’t have to agree with what is taking place – but please understand that BU administrators are charged the responsibility of ensuring your safety and well-being. I suspect your parents would agree… and I hope/pray it is what you would want from a University when your son/daughter goes to school.

  19. I love how the latest statistics from the weekend 10/21 – 10/23 fails to mention that it was parents weekend at Boston University. Of-course the numbers are going to go down.

    1. The weekend of 10/21-23 didn’t mention the change up or down. Neither did the week before. Next week probably won’t either.

      What is your theoryon why the numbers went down: Parents took their students to Salem to get arrested? Parents transported their own kids to the hospital? Students didn’t throw a party because their parents might catch them? Parents and students stayed in the hotel and quietly smoked weed? The weekend was so interesting and busy no one wasted their time getting drunk?

      1. Parents Weekend. Kids were hanging with their folks so the number of folks partying was fewer. Next week’s stats (from this coming Halloween weekend) will be interesting.

  20. Sure. College kids will drink. But some overdo it. After having served on a jury regarding a fraternity kid’s death (not a BU student) from overindulging, I applaud BU for trying to prevent something like that from happening.

  21. Yes, we all have weekends where we drink too much. I haven’t gotten in trouble or gone to the extreme of being hospitalized, but we all have our days. There are way more students that drink responsibly or don’t drink at all. Honestly, for an undergraduate student body of around 16,000, that isn’t that bad. There are schools with a fraction of the students with similar numbers.

  22. The numbers are never going to go down. That’s the whole point. BU doesn’t WANT the numbers to go down. They want parents to see the numbers and think, ‘Oh my! BU sure is doing a great job enforcing the drinking age and safe decisions! I’ll keep spending gross amounts of money for my child to attend this school!’ There is absolutely nothing that anyone can do to stop college kids from drinking, doing drugs, throwing/attending parties, and making generally irresponsible decisions. Absolutely nothing. The biggest reason for that is because we’ve never had a chance to be this irresponsible before in our lives and we never will have it again… because people don’t drink or do drugs once they’ve graduated college, right? Oh wait, no, that’s not right. So the rules are generally hypocritical as well. It should be obvious but people are blinded by this “scorecard.” If you get transported to the hospital for alcohol intoxication and you’re under the age of 21, it is possible for you to come out of the situation with a bill upwards of $2000: apparently that’s what fun costs these days.

    Imagine this scenario: BUPD is lurking around the Allston party scene trying to bust some parties and take kids who are, drunk, yes, but not in any danger whatsoever, to the hospital just so they can post this scorecard and have it be true and give all the parents some ephemeral peace of mind. They find a kid on the street who has had 6 drinks and is in no danger whatsoever of alcohol poisoning–he’s just drunk–they breathalyze him, and transport him to the hospital. Now this kid has to pay a hospital bill, an ambulance fee, and a lawyer for his court summons. He was just trying to blow off steam because his chemistry professor made it literally impossible for any of the students to get above a 50 on the last exam and because of that one test, he can no longer go to med school. And what about the older man with the heart condition who lives one neighborhood over? Tonight happens to be the night that his ticker stops ticking and he needs an ambulance to get to the hospital. Unfortunately, it’s not available though because it’s stuffed with BU students who didn’t actually need it. Not to mention the fact that these numbers that BUPD is putting aren’t even impressive. 8 alcohol-related court summonses? How many kids do you think they COULD’VE given it to that night?

    ***If BU ACTUALLY wanted to give parents an ACCURATE picture of what the weekend scene looks like, they would take a poll of the students. Except they would never do that, because then parents wouldn’t send their kids here.***

    Mentality is relative to age, not time. 40 years ago, the BU administration, BUPD officers, and the parents who love these “statistics” were doing the same thing that college students are doing now, probably even to a more intense degree. What has changed? Nothing. Except for the fact that the moneysick institutions have found a way to squeeze more cash out of it… like I said, they’ve put a price on fun.

    So these scorecards should be about as nourishing to the mind of a parent as the unavailable ambulance is to the dying man who really needed it: not at all.

    1. BU actually has polled students about their drinking habits. I am sure you could find this information easily if you contacted SHS or the DOS Office.

      I remember the information being presented in a BU today article a few years ago.

  23. Cracking down is just going to make students find sneakier and worse ways to do things. I wouldn’t go as far to say that this is like prohibition, but it’s similar in the fact that people are going to do what they want to do. The threat of the police arresting people and transporting people and breaking up parties, is not going to make people stop. We’ll just go further off-campus, or get ourselves in worse situations to avoid getting in trouble.

  24. I hate people’s sarcasm on these comment pages. Just speak your piece.

    Everyone needs to get over alcohol anyway. We college kids are always trying to find some way to legitimize and rationalize their vices and doing things we are not supposed. The rules are the rules and it’s as simple as that. Don’t break them and you won’t get in trouble. They exist for a reason. Looking at the number of hospital transports over the past weeks should give you enough understanding of why they do exist; why they should be enforced; and why most students are not responsible “adults” who should be able to drink as they please.

    I have never understood the big hoo-ha over alcohol. Grow up, “adults”, as you call yourselves.

  25. As a student, I have to say this is only going to create even more resentment among students. If there’s one idea kids our age don’t respond well to, it is the idea of being controlled or serving under some kind of authority. The more authority is asserted, the more kids will fight it. It’s just the psychology of our age group. Most kids just want to be left the hell alone–that’s why college was so appealing in the first place.

    If BU’s motives are as well-intentioned as they’re advertising (trying to prevent drinking-related deaths, etc.), then I have respect for them. However, I think in the end this will come back to haunt them. It won’t decrease the drinking by any significant amount, and they’ll have wasted so much time and money. It will, however, lead to kids being dissatisfied by their freshman year experience and transferring. It sounds stupid, but I’ve already heard many exasperated freshman students on a Friday night talking about how hard it is to find a party/booze without getting busted.

    I really wonder why BU has decided to focus on this so much. It’s not as if we have a reputation as a party school or abnormally high drinking statistics.

  26. Wow, I am glad to see that lots of tuition money is spent on a few alcohol related incidents. Yes, some of the actions may have been beneficial to a few people; however I believe that many of the actions have caused regular college aged young adults unnecessary trouble. Education on being safe is well intentioned and may help the judgement of some. Throughout history college has always been a time to learn, experiment, learn from mistakes, and fortunately or unfortunately drink excessive amounts of alcohol. Spending more money on curbing this normal behavior is wasteful and unnecessary. No matter how much action or patrol is happening, students WILL drink for many reasons; whether it be to deal with stress, meet new people, or to simply have fun. I believe that police should stop crimes such as assault and vandalism (Allston Flamer), but mostly protect and serve the public. Arresting an inebriated (but not dangerously intoxicated) student walking safely home is only going to cause resentment among the demographic and further the the drinking. This will hurt the public rather than protect it. Binge drinking is a common occurrence at almost all colleges, in the past, present, and most likely (definitely) in the future. More tuition money spent on stopping this fact will not change anything. I feel that students who try to walk home safely are the ones who are punished. This in turn makes others stay out and risk violence, sexual assault (as mentioned in an earlier post) or other dangers in fear of getting in trouble by making their way home safely. Of course there have been alcohol related injuries and/or deaths and precautions should be taken to prevent such occurrences. BU should publish the correlation between more expensive patrols and harm caused by alcohol, not simply how many student got caught. The world in which we live is a dangerous place. Arresting people for typical behavior will not change that fact.

    1. I don’t understand why people are drawing the connection between our tuition and statistics being taken. No one is being paid to take these statistics with our tuition… The law enforcement and EMTs are required to record these instances anyways.

  27. How about we use some of this money, time, and effort to deter the numerous “robberies” occurring on campus? As a student of BU, I’d like to feel safe ON CAMPUS. These increased patrols can maybe think about students wellbeing on the Charles River Campus instead of hauling off a kid with a drink in his or her hand.

    The RA’s and security guards in the dormitories are supposed to be the authority when it comes to intoxication. If they see an alcohol related issue, it is their responsibility to contact the correct Emergency Response outlet. Come on BU, have a little faith in your own Resident Assistants and Security Officers. These “Preemptive Strikes” on intoxicated students has gone on long enough.

    1. The only money being spent is for the BU Today staffers to copy EXISTING police statistics about BU police following EXISTING police procedures and copying them into a graphic. The staff of BU Today would be doing something else for the money if they weren’t doing this article. It looks like much less than 1 hours work each week.

      It isn’t about the money!

      I understand the student resentment. Noone wants to be watched when doing stupid stuff. They don’t even want to admit it is stupid.

      Parents weekend is the proof; When actual parents were watching students, much more carefully than the police watch, less students were busted for doing stupid stuff.

      Heads up to those objecting to the phrase “stupid stuff.”

      Commiting a crime and getting caught is stupid – even if you think it is a harmless crime. Getting so drunk you need to have your stomach pumped is stupid. At any age.

  28. While other countries put money into teaching about the dangers of binge drinking or drinking in general to prepared their children for when they reach the legal drinking age, the United States wastes money cleaning up after the damage has been done (court dates, excessive police enforcement). I am 18 and the only teachers I had that explained the dangers of alcohol to me were my health class teacher (when we talked about alcohol for maybe a week) and my parents. I cannot stress enough how little is taught about alcohol safety in the United States.

    Let’s throw some statistics of our own out there.

    The United States is one of ten countries with drinking ages over 18.

    By population, that means about 691,220,000 of the 7 BILLION people on Earth live in a place with a drinking age over 18. Almost half of those people live in the United States.

    That means 90.125% of the world (by population) has a drinking age of 18 OR LOWER.

    But what do they know, right? It’s just 90% of the human population that can legally drink at the age of 18.

    30 States already allow parents to serve alcohol to their children in their own home. This can be a good time to discuss drinking responsibly with children.

    Prevention over Prosecution.

    All this information can be found here http://www2.potsdam.edu/hansondj/LegalDrinkingAge.html

    In closing, a good friend of mine enlisted in the Army earlier this year at the age of 18. He’s trusted with a gun, but not with a beer.

  29. Dear everyone,

    Please realize that BU can and will do whatever it wants in terms of enforcement of the Code of Conduct. This will never change. BU is not this diverse school that welcomes change and revolution as they would have you to believe just because MLK went here. Instead, use BU for all its wonderful resources and get out with your creativity and revolutionary souls in tact. Go abroad. Be an RA. Get scholarships. Use their funding. Use them, use them, use them. You’re paying for it anyway. Then get out and be the change in the world you wish to see.

  30. My friends have parties at their house- people show up, have a good time, and go home. The first weekend of school the police showed up and broke up a completely harmless gathering at their house (where the majority of attendees were 21+). There were no ambulances, no fighting, no loud music, nobody in the streets, just a housewarming barbecue on our front lawn (which is a fenced-in area) like any “responsible adults” would have if they moved into a new home. My friends received a summons and now have to do 30 hours of community service each. Over the next three weeks, the police repeatedly showed up their our door both during the day and at night to tell them that their house in now a “hot spot” and the police will be driving by every night to make sure they aren’t having any parties. Last week, someone entered the front door of their neighbors home, tied her up and sexually assaulted her. While this is obviously the fault of nobody but the attacker, one has to wonder- could it have been prevented if the police had been in front of that house instead of out checking party hotspots?

    The think that irks me the most about this attack is that once the police were notified, there were cop cars on the block and officers going in and out of the house. My friends (four girls) live steps away from where something bad had obviously just happened so I was concerned and approached an officer and said “May I ask what happened here?” His response was “Sure you can. I’m not gonna tell you, though!” as he walked past me and into the house. Now, someone please, PLEASE tell me why the police can issue these ridiculous reports about all the parties they break up, but when there is a sexual assault 10 feet away from four girls live, we aren’t allowed to know about it? I’m not sure what case I’m trying to make here, but basically there are good people and there are bad people. I think the police and BU need to reevaluate what the real problems are. There are a lot of comments about people getting jumped while walking home drunk- maybe there wouldn’t be so many cases of assault and robbery if the focus was put on the streets instead of our basements.

    1. I completely agree.. Cops have a more important job to do (such as stopping actual crimes like this one), than breaking up parties, whether there are underage participants or not.. Instead of finding rapists they break up parties.. OH and funny how BU doesn’t pay for patrols of the esplanade when several people have been assaulted over the last few months, many being students. This is the first time I’ve heard of any organization putting more emphasis on stopping parties then stopping violent crimes, it’s just ridiculous.

  31. I guess kids now a days need to be watched more. Either they are not responsible enough to control themselves or the village must police them.
    Who is going to watch them when they graduate?
    Study, go to class, have a few with your friends, but keep it all under control. Here is a thought. Before you do something ask yourself “would I do this if my parents were standing here?” If the answer is no…then don’t do it. Being a sneak is not the way to conduct yourself.

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