Small College & University Network

Hello,

Recently our Campus Safety department (not sworn officers) made a policy that HRL must contact them and they must be present for all alcohol violations. Our protocol is to contact Safety when we are unable to manage the scene (usually too many people), people involved are belligerent or uncooperative, or we call 911 to have someone medically evaluated. What is your protocol for contacting Campus Safety/Police for alcohol in the residence halls?

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Jason Langston
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Jason,

Our PD (fully sworn) does not respond unless we call them for assistance.  Our preference is to handle peer to peer.  Here are some of our protocols for issues with alcohol:

 

• Alcohol Consumption in Public Area  

• • Identify yourself  

• • Ask student for Spider card 
  • Remind student they are not allowed to consume alcohol in a public area, regardless of age 
  • Politely ask student to go to the nearest bathroom and pour out the opened container of alcohol 

• • If underage, confiscate any unopened containers of alcohol and place in the appropriate duty office.  
  • Document all confiscated items in the duty log 

• • Document the incident regardless of the student's age 

• • Document as many students as you can comfortably do so if there is more than one student consuming in the public space 

• • Contact Area Coordinator on Call if the student is uncooperative.  

 

• Underage Alcohol Possession or Consumption in Room 

• • Identify yourself at the door  
  • Ask resident(s) for Spider card 
  • Remind resident(s) they are not allowed to possess or consume alcohol underage 
  • Politely ask resident(s) to go to the nearest bathroom and pour out the opened container of alcohol 

• • Confiscate any unopened containers of alcohol and lock in the appropriate duty office's alcohol trunk 

• • Document all confiscated items in the duty log 

• • Document the incident  
  • Contact Area Coordinator On Call if the resident(s) are uncooperative 

• • • Area Coordinator will determine, either by phone or in person, if URPD is needed.  

 

• Unregistered Event with Alcohol 

• • • Identify yourself  
    • Locate all resident(s) of the room or apartment and ask to join you in the hallway or porch 
    • Ask resident(s) for Spider card  
    • Remind resident of the restrictions on events with alcohol at the University 

• • • Ensure the resident cuts off the alcohol supply immediately  
    • Provide the resident(s) with five minutes to close the event 
    • Suggest the resident(s) turn off the music and some lights to encourage guests to leave 

• • • Document the incident 
    • Contact Area Coordinator On Call if the resident(s) are uncooperative 

• • • • Area Coordinator will determine, either by phone or in person, if URPD is needed. 

We do allow registered events with alcohol and PD is made aware of these as well.  Only if they violate policy and cannot be handled, shut down by student staff, are PD called into assist - mostly stand by as student staff takes lead:  https://residencelife.richmond.edu/residence-life/Community/event-registration.html. 

Holler if you have any additional questions.

pb (University of Richmond)

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Patrick Benner | Director of Residence Life & Housing
University of Richmond | Richmond VA |
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Hello Jason!

Great requestion.  Our practice is similar to Richmond's in that we prefer and train our RA staff to confront and manage all alcohol related situations first before reaching out to Campus Safety for assistance.  The exceptions are the same as others in situation is too large, lack of cooperation or a medical or intoxication concern.

The CSO's are great here and often get called by residents first, before RAs.  That throws a wrench into our practice so we are beginning to discuss how to address that aspect.  We work very well together with our Campus Safety Officers.

I hope you get some productive responses!

Bob Brophy, Director of Residence Life, Keuka College

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Bob Brophy | Director of Housing & Residence Life
Keuka College | Keuka Park NY | (312) 617-5549
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Jason, We only call public safety for assistance when needed. If it is a small group and they are cooperative, we handle it on our own.

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Chris Beyer | Director of Residential Life
Augustana College | Rock Island IL |
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Hello,

We require our Campus Safety (not sworn) to be called for all alcohol incidents.  They however are there mainly as a support to the RA/RD staff.  In this way if an incident gets out of hand they are right there able to help instead of us having to wait for them to show up.  I feel this gives the RAs more confidence knowing they have this additional support.  We also require two professional staff members to confiscate and dispose of all alcohol, so they need to be there any way.  RAs do not touch full or empty alcohol containers or paraphernalia.  Campus Safety also goes on nightly rounds with our staff and interact with residents regularly so it is less intimidating for students when they show up at an incident.

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Joe Belter | Director of Residence Life
Southwestern Oregon Community College | Coos Bay OR |
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Jason,

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Amanda Iverson | Director of Residence Life
Union College | Schenectady NY |
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Hello Jason, 

We are a public college of 2500 FTE and 450 living on campus.  We do have our Public Safety present for all alcohol and drug incidents.  There are two reasons for this, one is so that the RA's are not the 'bad guys' taking alcohol away, and the other reason is to make sure everything gets reported correctly for Clery reporting.

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Debbie Kolstad
Director of Residence Life
Lewis-Clark State College Lewiston, ID
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