Committee releases celebration review findings

The Last Day of Classes celebration last semester drew herds of students, featured gallons of alcohol and left several areas of the campus ravaged. The general chaos of the campus-wide event captured the attention of a number of administrators, faculty members and students who met throughout the summer to discuss such large-scale outdoor events and to devise a strategy to ensure their overall success.

The aftermath of the Last Day of Classes celebration proved to be the last straw for University officials, who had faced campus destruction and safety hazards similar to those last April several times before-at bonfires following basketball victories, at Krzyzewskiville itself and at a number of last-day-of-classes parties in the past.

The celebrations committee-which received its charge from Vice President for Student Affairs Janet Dickerson-met five times to take a hard look at institutional standards and expectations, focusing on student behavior and administrative support at campus-wide events.

According to the final proposal, the committee-under the leadership of Assistant Vice President for Student Affairs Sue Wasiolek-put forth the following six recommendations to "create and support a safe, secure and fun programming environment that encourages post-event clean-up:"

¥ increase indoor programming space to accommodate a varied range of activities;

¥ continue to allow some level of "spontaneity" with student programming;

¥ require adequate staff support at campus events, including Campus Police, staff or adviser presence and contracted professional security;

¥ reconsider University staffing patterns in various service offices, acknowledging that at the end of a "normal" work day or week, students' on-campus activities do not end;

"Our first meeting was to go back to the history of the last day of classes to review the challenges that that day had presented in the past few years," Wasiolek said.

Committee members made a concerted effort to emphasize the responsibility students have to behave appropriately. According to the proposal, "students should expect that if they fail to properly manage an event (e.g. cleanup), they may lose the right to reserve space on campus for a period of time, be assessed for the costs associated with correcting the situation, be assessed a fine and/or be referred for judicial action."

But beyond the written contents of the report, committee members almost unanimously cited alcohol as the root of many problems common in campus-wide events.

"Behavior in general [at such celebrations] isn't wonderful no matter how early in the day it is," said Lew Wardell, assistant director of the Duke University Police Department. "But the later it gets, the worse it gets, and that's pretty much dependent on the amount of alcohol consumed."

Many went a step further, explaining that alcohol-and the fact that students generally don't have academic obligations the following day-are the two biggest factors responsible for the deterioration of students' behavior during that particular celebration.

"I don't want to suggest that the Last Day of Classes is unique, but to a certain extent, it's unlike any other celebration on campus," Wasiolek said. "People are free to and encouraged to consume alcohol for a long period of time, and there are no academic responsibilities the next day, so that creates an opportunity for abusive consumption.

"The day after the last day of classes in the minds of many students," she added, "is one that they can choose to forfeit."

Paul Bumbalough, associate dean of student development, also recognized the combination of alcohol and lack of school-related responsibilities as a major contributor to the destructive behavior.

"It was an opportunity for people to put their hair down before they have to put their nose to the grindstone," he said. "It basically gives them license to over-indulge."

Wardell said that completely outlawing public consumption is an option currently on the table.

"No public consumption. Period. That's definitely being discussed," he said. "The present alcohol policy is almost impossible to enforce. Liquor really is the bane of every public manager's existence."

Chuck Catotti, general manager in special events and conference services, is skeptical that making the alcohol policy more stringent would help the problem.

"As someone who worries about safety, you tend to have more safety problems with people who are intoxicated," he said. "Changes in an alcohol policy can be a backstop, but if a crowd wants to get out of control, they're going to."

Officials also blamed the destruction on the large crowds, lack of event management and lack of access control.

Wardell said the Duke University Police Department is a strong proponent of the recommendation that calls for allocating programming space in order to control access to the events.

"DUPD is really not wild about unfettered use of space in the University," he said. "If you're going to have an outside event, I would prefer that there's some type of access control, like a fenced in area, so there's less conflict between and among events. In general, the crowd ends up being [huge] and we have to staff every one of them."

The University, he continued, has not developed the facilities for such a residential-oriented community.

Melinda Bolger, assistant dean of University life, also emphasized the importance of access control and establishing facilities to improve monitoring of large-scale events.

"Virtually anyone can walk into a large-scale event, whether they belong there or not," Bolger said. "While this is a safety concern we always carefully address, it can never be totally eliminated due to the physical layouts of the quads."

What could help, she noted, is the construction of the facilities Wardell mentioned, which would help to create a "safe and secure environment while still enabling everyone to have a great time."

Members of the committee appreciated the opportunity their meeting afforded to discuss their vices and concerns-and to play off of each other's perspectives.

"Administrators wanted to know if students really needed to have things such as K-ville," said Trinity senior and committee member Atabak Mokari. "I and other administrators said that these are things that were traditions and we need to uphold that."

Bumbalough's sentiments also reflected the spectrum of views expressed in the discussions.

"It was clear that there is probably a great difference of opinion in terms of large-scale events and how to approach them," he said. "It was still a good opportunity for everyone to talk about the issue."