MPD adopts bold policy on partying

The Middlebury police cited 16 Middlebury students with underage drinking at a party that was taking place at 424 Quarry Road on Friday, Oct. 30.

Four residents — all members of the Middlebury lacrosse team — of the off-campus house will appear in court on Dec. 14 under the charge of serving alcohol to minors, according to an article in the Burlington Free Press. A resident of the house was found to have three kegs of beer registered under his name. As the party took place off-campus, the Department of Public Safety was not present to deal with the incident. Michael Davidson, the Middlebury liquor inspector, and members of the Stop Teen Alcohol Risk Team accompanied the police to the scene.

According to students present at the party, several police cars came to the house, and the police asked those who were not 21 to take breathalyzer tests. Those whose blood alcohol registered at higher than .00 percent and were driving home were asked to fill out certain forms and given the option of either having their license revoked or paying a fine of $175 for

a class on substance abuse. In addition, they would have to perform 10 hours of community service and meet with a substance abuse counselor.

Davidson has been present on campus more frequently this semester than he has in the past, perhaps due in part to the College’s new alcohol policy and Par- ton Health Center’s newly limited abilities to deal with intoxicated students. He was on hand during the break-up at Quarry Road and present again the next night, Oct. 31, at Vitality of the Artistic Community Association’s Halloween party in Atwater Dining Hall and at the Atwater suites.

According to Director of Public Safety and Associate Dean of the College Lisa Boudah, Davidson has “definitely been here more of- ten than in the past.”

“He may come one time, see some issues he’s concerned with, and come back later to see if those issues have been resolved,” she continued.

Some students believe he has been taking a fiercer tack than be- fore in dealing with alcohol violations at the College by targeting specific houses or events — for example, tailgates at football games.

“The fact that they all these cops showed up at the same time with the liquor inspector present tells me that this was some sort of ‘sting’ or bust,” said Joe Fiori ’11. “I think the entire situation was pretty shady.”

He added that he thought at least 50 students would have to go through the process of filling out legal forms and paying a fee and meeting a substance abuse counsel- or as a result of citations by the police last weekend.

Students are not happy that the local police, rather than Public Safety, is dealing with off-campus alcohol violations. The College’s current alcohol policy is generally much more lenient than punishments from the police. Violations of College policy are dealt with on a case-by-case basis, leaving the commons deans more discretion in the decision-making process. There is no automatic penalty for a certain number of violations.

Still, many students are apprehensive at the idea of having to be responsible for their peers themselves and no longer being able to rely on the health center for care, due to the new sober friend policy enacted by the health center. Due to this incident, social houses are also more hesitant now to register parties for fear of the police showing up or having to deal with intoxicated minors.