Four Northwestern students landed in the hospital after drinking excessively during Wildcat Welcome, down from six students during last year’s New Student Week, said interim Dean of Students Burgie Howard.
It was the first decrease in Wildcat Welcome alcohol-related hospitalizations since at least 2005, when two students were hospitalized.
The drop comes as a welcome relief for the University, which has targeted binge drinking with new intensity since losing student Matthew Sunshine to alcohol poisoning at the end of Spring Quarter 2008.
“I’m always happy to see a trend heading in the proper direction,” Howard said, describing the change in Wildcat Welcome hospitalizations. “(But) I would like to see that number be zero, so we still have work to do.”
With freshmen on campus for the first time and no classes, Wildcat Welcome is one of the more raucous weeks of the school year. Still, it is far too early to tell whether the decrease in hospital visits suggests a larger trend, said Gabe Brotman, communications director for NU’s chapter of the Gordie Foundation, which trains students to recognize the signs of alcohol poisoning.
“You can’t just measure it by one week,” said Brotman, a School of Communications sophomore. “You have to do it by a month and a year and a couple years. It’s still a problem.”
More than 50 students were hospitalized last fall due to alcohol poisoning, and the issue of alcohol safety came up repeatedly in this spring’s race for Associated Student Government president. Both leading ASG candidates supported changing school policy to protect students who get help for intoxicated peers.
Then, this month, the school unveiled “Responsible Action Protocol,” which states that students who get medical help for friends and cooperate with first response teams might be excused for minor infractions of school policy. The initiative is aimed at addressing any hesitation students might have to get help in emergency situations.
Students should also never hesitate out of concern that hospital staff will be frustrated or overloaded, said Jim Anthony, the director of public relations at Evanston Hospital.
“Nobody’s going to be turned away,” Anthony said. “That’s why the emergency room is there… It’s not an issue in any way that the emergency room would frown about anybody being brought in.”
Howard cited the freshmen’s completion of an online alcohol safety course prior to campus, as well as nighttime programming during Wildcat Welcome, to the decrease in alcohol poisoning incidents.
Howard said he hopes the judgment shown by the vast majority of the freshman class continues long after Wildcat Welcome.
“We’re hoping that they make good choices about taking care of themselves,” he said. “It’s something that requires constant vigilance and restraint.”
Editor’s note: This article originally stated that eight students went to the hospital for excessive drinking last year’s Wildcat Welcome. The number was actually six. The article also incorrectly stated the number of students sent to the hospital for alcohol poisoning as 80 instead of 50. THE DAILY regrets the errors.
