Belligerence brings bills for binging

Author: Sara Black

You just finished your economics midterm. Being 20 years old, you solicit the services of your friend in the senior class to go to the liquor store with a truly collegiate shopping list.

One handle of Popov Vodka: $12.99. One 30-rack of Bud Light: $17.00. One bottle of Andre: $4.00. One liter of Bacardi apple rum on sale: $15.93.

The total bill is $53.92 - not bad for a Friday night of drunken debauchery.

But that misleading figure hardly covers the exorbitant cost that binge drinking may incur, as a growing number of Middlebury students are discovering. In fact, on the Saturday morning after your victorious midterm, you may wake up to find yourself footing a much larger bill after drinking beyond your limit during the previous night's festivities. What began as a social evening quickly deteriorated into a belligerent whirlwind of events - sending you from the thrills of the party scene to the Health Center, Porter Hospital and finally the police department in Rutland.

"There's a bump in the number of patients we see every year," Assistant Director at Parton Health Center Terry Jenny said, "when classes end before exams, 21st birthdays, St. Patrick's Day, etc."

On certain uproarious holidays and on many nights during J-term, the sound of beer cans cracking open and the clink of shot glasses hitting the table can be heard as one walks down any dormitory hallway. But when these lighthearted gatherings take a turn for the worse, and friends or Public Safety officers must take intoxicated students to Parton Health Center or Porter Hospital, the bills start adding up fast.

While some hospitalized students will be quickly discharged, others will remain overnight for observation or be sent to Porter Hospital. Others, in the cold confines of a Middlebury Police Department (MPD) car, will make their way to the Rutland Detoxification Center, "if they are behaving in such a manner that they are unable to stay at the Health Center," says Assistant Director of Patrol Operations Dan Gaiotti.

If, added Gaiotti, "they're belligerent, they're combative or they're not willing to stay at the Health Center, then Parton staff will determine whether or not they can handle them."

"If not, they're going to call Public Safety to try and calm the student down," he said. "Then if that's not happening, the Health Center will say, 'we can't have them here.' In that case, we contact the MPD."

If you choose to fight off attendants at the Health Center and struggle against Public Safety's advances, you can find yourself in such a predicament.

Waking up in Rutland Detoxification Center, the price of your night increased to much more than just a hangover: the reasonable sum of $53.92 becomes a staggering $903.92.

"Usually the college only sends students to protective custody (which can be Rutland or Burlington) when they won't cooperate," said Dean of Student Affairs Ann Hanson. "It is important that they cooperate with the police and if they don't then that makes the infraction more serious."

As a student passes from the hands of the two nurses at the Health Center to the emergency room personnel, to the MPD officer and finally to the officials at the Rutland Detoxification Center - while they may not remember any of these events - they will be incurring bills to pay at every step of the way.

For the standard services at Porter Hospital, required to treat an intoxicated student, the fee is $300.00. One would pay $150.00 for the civil ticket, and, in order to fulfill the ticket requirements, an additional $150.00 for substance abuse counseling at the facility of their choice. Another $200.00 dollars would go toward a future drug test. Finally, the student will be required to complete 10 community service hours. Students of age are released once the alcohol has left their body.

"Often students don't have money with them, cell phones or ways of calling friends back on campus," Hanson said. "Often the police just release them and they are stuck out of town. I know of instances in which friends have picked them up, but I also know of times when students have hitchhiked back or in one instance the student walked back to Middlebury."

And even after all of the money has been paid, students must appear in front of the College Judicial Board and withstand the ruling of the administration. In some cases, the student could face suspension.

"Each Community Judicial Board case is unique," Community Judicial Board member Sam Temes '07 said, and "unique attributes of every incident determine the sanction. Suspension is certainly a possible outcome. There is no 'golden rule'."

Money is not the only thing a student has to lose. He or she will likely endure a permanent mark on his or her school record.

"From my point of view it's scary to see people drink to the extent that they need to go to the hospital," Emergency Medical Technician and Junior Counselor Annie Davison '08.5 said, "Why drink if you are going to need an IV?"

"If you put it in a different setting it would be alcoholism," says Davison, adding, "Hopefully the habits won't carry over into the real world."