When students return to campus for the first time since May, sports teams, greek organizations and student clubs and organizations reunite to begin the school year’s events.
Although the beginning of the school year is a time of celebration, there can be consequences and health concerns when involving the use of alcohol.
“At the beginning of the year, we definitely have more (alcohol policy) violations. People are very excited to see each other. Sometimes our new freshmen are trying to decide what the rules are and how far we’ll be willing to go with the rules,” Dean of Students Cassy Bailey said. “Sometimes that has to do with joining new clubs or organizations and feeling a pressure to maybe drink.”
Campus policies involving the use of alcohol are written out in the student handbook. The use of alcohol on campus is prohibited except in the Horn and Markham apartments and only within the state laws of Kansas. Violation sanctions are categorized between minor and major offenses.
“The great thing is that it’s really clearly stated in our student handbook,” Bailey said. “In other words, it says, ‘here are what minor offenses are, here are what major offenses are by the university and here’s what happens on your first offense minor or first offense major.’ So it’s really clearly spelled out what we’re going to do.”
Although Baker University’s policies dealing with alcohol do not impact the greek community, there is coordination among the greek, Baker and Baldwin City communities.
“I notify the dean of students if there’s an event. I notify public safety and I notify the residence hall workers,” Jennifer Letner, fraternity and sorority life coordinator, said. “The dean of students then passes that information on to the local police, the Baldwin City police department. They just think it’s a good idea to be aware of where the events are going to be and when.”
According to the College Parents of America website, schools where greek organizations are dominant are more likely to encounter students with excessive alcohol use.
“There really aren’t a lot of other options on this campus; that is mostly the social setting,” Letner said. “We do have a situation now with a newer development on campus where you are allowed to have alcohol in the apartments. They’re allowed to register parties as well. That is less likely because there are fewer people living in the apartments than there are living in the fraternity houses.”
Celebrating the beginning of the school year with excessive alcohol use can have serious health effects and can lead to alcohol poisoning or eventually alcohol abuse.
Last fall, new greek members attended a mandatory program about the SAM Spady Foundation. The program encouraged personal responsibility in social situations where alcohol is present and taught students to recognize the symptoms of alcohol poisoning and call for help.
According to the SAM Spady Foundation, symptoms of alcohol poisoning can include unconsciousness or semi-consciousness, breathing less than 10-times per minute or irregular breathing, cold, clammy, pale of bluish skin, unable to be awakened by pinching, prodding or shouting and vomiting without waking up.
If a student does violate Baker University’s alcohol policy, punishment is part of the process, but the main concern is the safety of the students.
“Our first concern is for their safety and very, very secondary is about these violations,” Bailey said. “It’s more important that we keep each other safe.”
