Emergency calls and strewn beer cans littered this year's "green" Last Day of Classes celebration Wednesday.
LDOC saw more than twice as many calls to emergency medical services and increased incidences of vandalism compared with last year's event, Dean of Students Sue Wasiolek said. Event planners and University officials said the destructive behavior could be attributed to heavier drinking than in previous years.
"For those of us who were there and were sober-I assume I am speaking for my administrative colleagues and the students I have spoken with-it was scary, frankly," Wasiolek said.
This year, there were 36 calls to EMS, 26 EMS treatments and six transports to the Emergency Department, said Director of Duke University EMS Caitlin Sacha, a junior. Wasiolek said there was also one arrest and one citation.
Christine Pesetski, assistant dean for off-campus and mediation services, said last year's event resulted in 14 total incidents. But she added that it is difficult to compare the difference in incidents because the University kept better records this year.
"A small, but significant, number of students continue to be excessive in their drinking and misbehaving," Vice President for Student Affairs Larry Moneta wrote in an e-mail. "The littering was obscene and I'm embarrassed by the fact that so many students think that it's OK to dump their crap on the ground and expect someone else to clean up after them. Most students behave well-though even many of them are irresponsible with their trash."
LDOC's "festival feel" may have led to increased alcohol consumption and EMS calls, said Duke University Union President Zachary Perret, a junior. He added that having three headliners encouraged people to drink more throughout the day and increased the event's hype both on and off campus.
Significantly more individuals from outside the University attended the event, Wasiolek said, and several of those treated by EMS were not Duke students. At least one person who was treated was a student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, she added.
"I think what's difficult to assess is the overall impact of non-Duke people attending," Wasiolek said. "I think the overall preference would be for the LDOC committee to think about that in the future.... It could relate to performer selection, it could relate to location, it could relate to security."
She added that representatives from Student Affairs, Duke University Police Department, the LDOC planning committee and the Facilities Management Department will meet as early as next week to begin discussing plans for next year's event.
In particular, Moneta and Wasiolek said they will discuss how to prevent students from destroying Main West Quadrangle.
Both said the green theme did not seem to change students' behavior.
"Merri [Estren, a senior and LDOC committee chair,] did a fantastic job, and much of the experience offered environmentally sound features," Moneta said. "But too many students eventually fell back on their sense of entitlement and trashed the quad."
Still, Perret said the green theme did not fail. Although he said more property was destroyed during this LDOC than in years past-which he attributed to alcohol consumption-he said there was not more littering.
Perret noted that those with whom he has spoken in facilities management said students recycled more and left less trash. He added that waste on the main quad was still a problem and that DUU would continue to work to make LDOC more environmentally friendly.
"In my opinion, LDOC is a good thing, and it's a good way to end the semester," Perret said. "And while we are always looking for ways to make it better, students shouldn't worry that LDOC is going away, or that it's going to be too different than in past years."
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