BU has recently resumed its campaign against alcohol abuse, bolstering police patrols of known party neighborhoods, citing students for public intoxication, dispersing loud parties—and crucially, publicizing statistics on booze-control efforts by University, Boston, and Brookline police.
The graphic above shows last weekend’s enforcement statistics. See statistics from prior weekends below.
As a parent,it is very good to know about alchol enforcement patrols.
Great Job!!!!!
You do realize your kid will still drink, but just further away from campus right? THey will put themselves at a greater risk to avoid cops. Chances are they are drinking somewhat responsibly, and the real danger lies in getting home at night. I know a lot more people who have run into problems getting home than in drinking. So by patrolling the parties closest to campus, they are driving students away and probably to more sketchy parties.
They aren’t going to stop drinking or change that out of the ~16,000 undergrads, a handful will drink too much and require medical intervention.
So, these kids are drinking responsibly but they are so desperate to get away from the possiblility that the cops my bust their very mellow, quiet, responsible party that they need to go into rough neighborhoods? I don’t know … sounds like the students you are speaking about might have a bit of a problem …
Not sure if you are aware that approximately 1700 students every year DIE from alcohol overdose … that’s not just a simple “medical intervention.”
You do realize that not everybody who wants to drink will simply move further from campus, right?
If you can’t find a way to drink on campus then you’re doing it wrong, you do realize that, right?
Right?
Everyone knows college kids….high school kids and even younger kids drink booze. Its what we humans do and well into adulthood. Simple, obey the laws made to help protect us from ourselves and protect other people inding their own business. Keep the freakin’ noise down, don’t have a booze-driven fight outside of my house and don’t mess with other peoples property. If you have to piss, piss in your freakin’ pants and shut up. Drink responsibly and act accordingly or get locked-up, pay the fines and create a great record for your future.
Considering you are a parent of a college-aged student, I imagine that the drinking age when you were our age was 18. As such, isn’t your stance rather hypocritical?
BU is great protecting your child from him/herself. What about from the real threats?
BUPD is great at busting up parties but they’ve had a great deal of trouble catching a couple of thugs who were repeatedly mugging the students in the same area in broad daylight: http://www.bu.edu/today/2012/robbery-spree-continues/
How about solving a murder case?
http://www.bu.edu/today/2012/police-probe-allston-murder/
At least they can protect our girls from a creep with an iPhone who is also a repeat offender, right?
http://www.bu.edu/today/2012/police-are-investigating-ashford-street-attacks/
I’d rather my tuition go towards knowing students are getting a proper education in school. It’s student’s responsibilities to learn how to drink
And it is the responsibility of the BU Police department to respond to noise complains and otherwise uphold the laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Sure would be nice if people would stop complaining about getting in trouble when they get all liquored up and lose control a bit. You take your licks and deal with it – that’s the REAL part of growing up.
What the school is doing just making the students more excited about alcohol. They love those challenges from the authority.
I would be more interested in amgraphicmthat showed the percentage of students who graduated from BUmand are currently employed. Of further interest would be the number of students who found jobs with the help of BU versus on their own
A google search would work nicely for that. I too agree these statistics are a bit unnecessary, but don’t be critical because they didn’t post job statistics in the middle of September.
And by the way, “m” and “spacebar” are two different keys.
I also believe such strict enforcement drives the students further from the campus for parties, making transportation home more dangerous. The students should be learning responsibility.
This is not preschool, it’s college. Kids drink in college. Do they really think they’re going to stop this? So ridiculous…
heer, heer
i don’t think they want to stop all drinking. they are trying inform and control the number of alcohol related incidences…have you ever seen someone die of alcohol poisoning? its not pretty
Umm….wait you want to discourage kids from drinking irresponsibly yet EVERY home red sox game you INVITE drunken red sox fans to park in campus parking ( at 30 dollars a car) What happens when one of them hits a student crossing the already dangerous sidewalks? And this is 81 times a year, not counting other events at Fenway. A very dangerous practice from both a moral and a risk management point of view!
“Crucially.” Not the word I would use to describe this bizarre and unnecessary aspect of BU’s anti-alcohol campaign.
I’m always of the mindset that we let natural selection run its course; we aren’t here to babysit students and explain how common sense works. That being said, a lot of people are forgetting that the enforcement is not just about imbibing; if I had a dollar for every time a dumb schmuck smashes a bottle on the street where kids play in the daytime or when they pick a fight that ends with stitches, I’d have enough cash to keep the city workers assigned to Allston properly paid.
You can piss and moan all you want about enforcement, but there’s only one way the police find out: you act stupid. So don’t act stupid.
I think it’s great. Loved Dean Elmore’s comment: Hey Folks, it’s illegal. End of story.
Seriously, part of growing up is to accept responsibility and face consequences . Thanks to BU for holding them accountable to our country’s laws.
Red Sox fans should be accountable, too. Public Drunkenness is not legal either, no matter how old you are.
College students will drink. And some will be irresponsible in doing so. Some will go to the extent of needing a transport. I don’t think this will teach us a lesson. All it does is break up a party and punish a bunch of kids who are drinking moderately and responsibly because of a handful of students who can’t control themselves.
And making graphs about it every week? It’s a joke. College students won’t stop drinking and this will not change anything. All it does is annoy everyone and ruin a good time. Most college students will make some mistakes and learn on their own that drinking more than a few drinks in a night is a bad idea. By having the police crack down on alcohol and partying will just drive students to other neighborhoods.
BU needs to focus on what we are here for, an education. Yes getting drunk is dumb and immature, but we can figure that out on our own. Intervening when it gets out of control is one thing, but when most students have only had a few drinks and are doing what is normal in college is another.
I’m all for it – I live in the GAP area and could live without the broken glass, the 4am sessions, the ambulance calls, and droves of students pushing over my trashcans.
Move your parties to Cambridge or something.
Are you serious? Because that’s a solution; I’m sure Cambridge won’t mind at all. But in all seriousness, I understand your concerns living in a neighborhood were students get drunk and destructive daily is annoying and dangerous. However, BU makes it difficult, if not impossible for students–including the of age ones–to drink in their own dorms, the safest place. So what are the suppose to do?
How about not living near college campus. You could find an equally nice, and cheaper house elsewhere where prices aren’t artificially inflated to exploit college-aged kids. What were you thinking moving to GAP where the BU students have been renting for longer than you’ve owned that house. I also like how you expect the students to go to cambridge. The T stops running at 12:30 and the students would be miles away. Obviously you aren’t concerned about safety at all.
I think having these statistics in infographic form trivializes them. Let everyone go out on the weekend, some will have a bad time, some will get in trouble – publishing this does nothing to help the problem and the graphic only makes the message less serious.
I think their should definitely be patrols, but not to break up parties. Maliciously going around and busting kids just pushes students away. Look, we’ve had two armed robberies in the past couple days and I’m all for the police to have a presence in Allston but for the right reasons. I think we should be more concerned with the recent crimes in Allston than some students having a couple beers.
BU’s insane alcohol policies just drive students to drink more in secret, which can lead to greater alcohol problems in the future. If BU would just relax and provide support for their students – medically and mentally – many of these problems would be solved. And I agree, these postings are ridiculous, like the BU Police are flaunting how many arrests they made. Great, you just ruined 8 kids’ lives this weekend.
Just wanted to clarify this. BU does provide “medical and mental” support related to drinking. Services are free, confidential and available to all students at SHS.
Just a note to the parents who think this actually does something.
You do realize that we treat these as trophies and try to break new records week after week to see the #’s go up on that cup picture right? Drinking alcohol doesn’t reflect my grades, professionalism, or physical health. I don’t see why I have to be persecuted like this just because I like to enjoy myself when I go out. People are going to drink, whether that be close to campus (safer) or in seedy nightclubs and shady parties farther away from campus is up to BU.
Yo Nik, maybe think before posting that? I know the rest of my brothers take this seriously. We don’t look at these as trophies, we just need to be careful about who we let into our house.
I’d rather see a graph showing how many muggings were prevented than this garbage.
@anonmyouos “are doing what is normal in college”
You are forgetting that our state law prohibits underage drinking. Seriously, it is illegal. So quit making excuses. If a few of these kids lose their scholarships or federal loans, would that change their hearts and turn them into law abiding citizens? And no matter what your age, public drunkeness is wrong, and not a protected right of passage.
Everyone’s talking about how its against the law to drink underage. How many adults have given their children a chance to drink? Maybe just the foam on top of your beer, or a cup of wine at dinner. Drinking has been normalized in our society. If by 19 you don’t know all the rack positions in a game of beirut, or the politics of ordering drinks at a bar, or develop a preference of beer/wine/etc., you’re considered a joke. That’s how college is. We didn’t make it like that, its the generations before us who set the standard. Don’t tell us to stop drinking now, just help us out.
And breaking up the few times we get together to enjoy ourselves after sitting through long lectures and studying hours for hard exams (only to get bad grades – thanks grade deflation), fining us even though we pay 55 grand to go to this school, making us do 80+ hours of community service when we’re already actively engaged in service projects in Greater Boston (which many BU students are).. that’s not right. That’s not how you teach us to be mature or smart. That’s how you teach us to be mad at authority.
Students should respect authority and feel safe on campus, not be running from patty wagons.
I suppose you also run stop signs and otherwise bend/break laws to suit your rebel nature. Paying 55 grand does not give you above the law status.
And I have no idea what the rack positions in a game of beirut means.
The 21+ rule is draconian in nature and out of touch with the reality of our society today. Send me to war, allow me to enter into marriage or credit card debt, but do not let me indulge in a beer? To hell with you. If it was not for federal highway funding and powerful groups such as “Mothers Against Drunk Driving” this law would have been wiped out. If I wanted every facet of my life to be controlled byy government I would move to Iran.
Draconian is probably not the word you are looking to use. These laws are not unduly harsh nor are they excessive deprivation of life, liberty or property. Draconian implies a harsh or unfairly restrictive quality that is hardly present
Your comment about being able to fight in the military but not being able to drink at 18 years of age is invalid. An 18 year old in active military service is allowed to drink while they are on any US Army base. Maybe you should actually know what you’re talking about before you criticize how the country runs things.
I am in the military and you are not allowed to drink until you are 21. It does not matter if you are on base or off base. If you get in trouble from drinking its a huge problem and can get you kicked out if it happens.
If loss of scholarship or federal loans “changes their hearts” it will not be into law abiding citizens. That stress alone could drive someone to drink. If they lose their scholarships, they may not be able to continue with their education. If they are able to continue with college, they may have difficulty getting into grad school because of an alcohol violation on the record. The less education you have, the harder it is to get a job. If an arrest is involved, it makes them even less likely to get a job. Again, more stress leads to more drinking.
First of all, it is more than a handful who drink irresponsibly. Second of all, as has been stated, it IS illegal for most BU undergraduates to drink. It is not up to BU to redifne the law, only to assist in enforcing it. In the real world, if you violate a law, there are real consequences. I would advise anyone who doesn’t see the logic in this enforcement to grow up and take responsibility for your own actions (if you happen to be a minor or just a student who supplies to minors). And while it is a student’s responsibility to learn safe drinking practices, they must only do so when of legal age, it is a law, after all.
As far as the argument “they will only resort to more dangerous drinking practices further away from campus” while this may be true, the students also need to acknowledge that risk themselves, being by and large adults aged 18 or greater. It is not BU’s responsibility to ensure that the students don’t go to extreme measures to get drunk, that falls into the common sense and self-preservation of the student.
Kids, learn the rules. Abide by them. Break the rules and pay the consequences.
Get used to it, the rest of your life you will have to follow all sorts of them.
Funny how other universities leave parties alone because they see it as stress relief. Give us a break
Shows how little you know about other Universities. Ariszona State University posts a RED TAG on the front of a house that has a party. Not a campus house, any house in the city. It is a misdemeanor to remove the red tag within 6-12 months. It is a misdemeaor to have more than 5 students in your house while the red tag is displayed. Landlords have cause for eviction if you have a party (more than 5 people under 25) in a red tagged house.
Pubilc drunkeness is an automatic expulsion from other schools – but believe what you want. If you think BU makes you suffer, go ahead and believe that.
This is something that really seems to drive a wedge between the administration and the student body, and that’s unfortunate. I wish that BU could promote responsible drinking without going all “big brother” on us. For example. visible drunkenness does not automatically warrant a hospital transport. Secondly, many BU students would agree that the BUPD would be deployed better as a protector of the student body instead of an enforcer, and perhaps should be stopping more armed robberies and fewer house parties.
2 cents
To anonymous…on further examination of the data that is associated with students who are transported to hospitals for “visible drunkeness”…we have been concerned to find that the level of intoxication of these students is significant. The average BAC of students tranported last year was 2-3 times the legal limit and the range extended to life threatening levels. It is not the moderate partier who is being identified by law enforcement and/or being transported to the hospital.
I’m not surprised. I support protecting the students and promoting safe, responsible drinking over ineffective zero tolerance punishments such as expulsion, but in my 4 years at BU I saw dangerously drunk students pretty much every time I went out: barely able to walk even with the help of their friends, passed out on a sidewalk, etc. Something obviously needs to be done about it.
As both an undergraduate student and someone with some common sense I’d like to address this as follows:
– 1. Infographics are not the way to present these data. Feels a little childish and condescending. If it pleases some parents, that’s wonderful, but it makes me a little angry
– 2. To the students complaining about BUPD breaking up their Allston parties and complaining that other schools let people drink: Boston University is not a closed campus. Just because you’re a college student doesn’t exempt you from being respectful of others trying to live peaceably. Put yourself in someone else’s shoes
That’s really it, just be mindful of others and try to stay away from the fuzz
Besides the hospital transports, this is a complete and utter waste of resources.
It is interesting to me, as a European, to see how much energy this issue engenders. Alcohol is a problem, I agree. Underage drinking is a health and safety problem. But what defines “underage” depends on social and political norms. Most countries in the world have 18 as the age at which alcohol is permitted, coinciding with other adult rights and responsibilities, such as marrying, being drafted into the military, voting and standing for election. Why is it so different here? What makes it reasonable for people to be allowed to drive at 16, vote or join the army at 18, but drink only at the age of 21? Where I come from (Germany), young people are allowed to drink beer and wine at the age of 16, which means that you are allowed to experiment with alcohol at the age when it is first interesting to young people. You try it, you overdo it, get sick, you learn to calibrate. C’est tout. In my opinion the college entry ritual of getting really sick from alcohol poisoning is just that, a ritual. As one commentator above puts it, it becomes a dare. It’s also ugly, silly, and belated for students to shame themselves in this way. They should have this nonsense behind them so they can drink responsibly and focus on what college ought to be about: forging friendships rooted in common interests, figuring out some of the big questions, honing one’s skills and acquire a few new ones, broadening one’s view of the world, learning how best to study and develop oneself and others.
I absolutely agree, Professor Zank. And I think anyone who travels or studies abroad can see this too. I’ve been poring through some 19th century American archives recently and have found that this country has a longstanding and deeply-rooted prohibitionist sentiment (going back to the colonial period) that I don’t think we’ve ever really overcome. You can see this mirrored today by groups like Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), whose mission started out as anti-drunk driving advocacy but slowly morphed into generalized anti-alcohol advocacy. The founder of MADD even left the group and criticized them for twisting their message and becoming a bunch of “neo-prohibitionists.”
But history is a pendulum, and the fact that this issue seems to be gaining prominence gives me hope that the pendulum is swinging back towards liberalization of social attitudes.
This is mostly just a promotional stunt done by BU to help parents feel like their children aren’t as likely to go out and drink. However, when it comes down to it, these students are legal adults and will ultimately make their own decisions. Yes it’s currently against the law for those underage to drink, but I’d rather see Boston University spending more of it’s time and resources on other activities. Increasing patrols through Allston and other surrounding neighborhoods may help prevent as many “large” and “noisy” parties, but it also means more students will just drink in smaller groups, travel further out looking for parties, and thus put themselves into more unnecessarily risky situations.
Got any studies to back that up?
I am not sure you are right. I am not sure you are wrong.
I have heard this before, but one could also make a case for the police patrolling the areas where students party helps protect them from victimization while they are drunk.
Socially, prohibition never works. I suspect those students who learned to drink responsibly at home will have no problem drinking responsibly in off campus situations. They aren’t the ones showing up in these statistics.
It’s too bad underage students can’t sit around on a Thursday evening and watch TV accompanied by one or two drinks like I did last night. It’s against the BU rules, but breaking those rules is not what is being reported here. What is reported in the graphic is disorderly conduct while drunk and public, possibly dangerous, drunkeness.
Speaking as a current freshman, I have to say that BU’s alcohol policies are incredibly unrealistic. It’s only October, and I can’t tell you how many of my fellow freshmen have done the Allston crawl or gone to house parties and gotten drunk. I’m not even a hard partier- I didn’t drink in high school. Drinking is simply a reality in college, and BU refuses to admit this. By doing so, and driving students further and further away from campus, they put their most vulnerable students, the female freshman, in a terrible position just in order to have a decent social life on the weekend. Over-21s who say we should simply not party in college are either being enormous hypocrits or are the kind of of moral evangelists that don’t have any business in my or my friend’s lives.
I love reading the stupid arguments from students about the drinking yet every year I see the stats for parents weekend they are always the lowestvof the semester, I guess when mommy and daddy are around they behave. I do realize that the numbers represent a small percentage of the BU population and that most ‘socialize’ in a responsible manner.
If students behave more responsibly around their parents, maybe they should learn moderation before heading off to college.
Returning slaves to their “owners” was once a “rule” too, people. Hoe many fo you would follow that because it’s “the rule”?
Yay, hyperbole. Just what this comment thread needs more of. An exaggerated comparison at best, an offensive comparison at worst. At least argue the facts.
BUPD should focus LESS on busting up the fraternity parties that have LISTS so taht we KNOW how many and what people are at the parties. they should focus MORE on the parties and loud concerts that we hear in GAP area basements. who knows who goes there? i always see people breaking bottles and shouting after THESE. greek life is a part of college, get over it. busting up our parties isn’t going to stop kids from drinking.
uhhhh dude what are you talking about???????
Under the Massachusetts Social Host Law, you can be charged criminally if you knowingly or intentionally supply, give, or provide to or allow a person under 21 years of age, except for your children or grandchildren, to possess alcoholic beverages on your premises or property. Conviction for this offense carries up to one year in jail and a $2000 fine.
It seems weird to me that BU is bragging about the amount of citations and parties they bust. Surely this only makes the school look worse, right? Why not publish stats that show that the amount of partying and citations is decreasing, as that is what the data seems to suggest (more likely, students are still partying, just being smarter about it).
Partying is an inevitable part of college life. Students should be held responsible for their own decisions, but the police should be looking out for our safety first and foremost, not focusing on busting our harmless parties.
These statistics need to stop. This is just encouraging students to try to “break the record” and to show up on the news. When they see this, their thought is “hey look guys, that was our party that was broken up! That was my friend that went to the hospital!” Seriously, that is what a friend told me for the last issue. And if they get broken up, the drinking won’t necessarily stop. The partying scene people at BU are not smart at all. They will just run away to a different house, somewhere they’ve never been before, be further away from campus so they end up crashing at an unknown residence. They need to figure out their limits for themselves or they’ll never learn.
I don’t mind kids drinking at 18 (I say this as an “old person”) if they knew their limits. They don’t. If a kid has 1-3 drinks over the course of an evening (after having dinner) then that’s fine. If they end up a little tipsy, hell we’ve all been there.
I do draw the line at public destruction and fights though, and that’s what seems to happen on an often enough basis to warrant these patrols. I can’t tell you how much broken glass, damage to cars, vomit, tipped over newspaper dispensers, etc I see on the average morning when I go for my run. There are families in these neighborhoods, people trying to walk their dogs (NOT on broken glass), and folks who have lives beyond the party scene. It’s not neighborly.
Are there many wonderful and responsible drinkers on campus? Absolutely. But cramming 200 people into a house, cranking up the music and getting bombed when you live in a residential neighborhood is not responsible. Go to the clubs and bars. Pregame before. Take a cab home. Keep the neighborhoods out of it.
(I also have seen SO many wasted young women with men who seem sober, enough that it really creeps me out. How many bad decisions get made — by both genders — under the influence of too much to drink?)
Whenever anything bad happens at BU, people always comment about how the police should have been preventing it instead of busting parties. They do their job the best they can and nobody’s perfect. They’re not going to ignore noise complaints about parties because some of you think they don’t have their priorities in line. The info-graphic was cool the first time I saw it. I kind of thought they would change up the image every now and then. There’s enough now that it might be neat to see it tabulated or graphed.
When I was at BU, I remember feeling sad whenever you see someone getting transported out of the dorms (when they didn’t look all that drunk). But at the same time, it’s easy to not get caught if you don’t create a scene or surround yourself with loud folk.
I don’t know how anyone can say they think the info-graphic is a “challenge” to drink more. Nobody thinks that. If you do, you’re strange.
How shallow it is that students complain the enforcement is “useless” because it “ruins their fun.”
One of the basis of the enforcement is to protect those who respect the law. Why are binge drinkers ENTITLED to mess up the streets, keep people insane ALL NIGHT with your clunking loud parties and waste taxes on patrols?
If you cannot control your drinking it’s your problem. You hate police to babysit you? You asked for it. I don’t care how you “relieve pressure” or whatever, you have NO RIGHT to invade other people’s right to peace and quiet at night. It’s like your right to entertainment is above other people’s basic rights. What a breeding ground for selfishness and you use the ragged old excuse “everyone is doing it” to get by.
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