The students are back on campus, and the Saint Louis University Department of Public Safety is aware of it.
Last weekend, after students finished hauling boxes to their respective apartments and dorm rooms, the partying began. DPS was called to 14 parties in the Grand Forest Apartments and three incidents in Marchetti Towers, according to Captain Rick Younger, assistant director of the Bureau of Field Operations.
“I have to make my welcome-backmessage, `glad that students are back,'” Younger said. “However, the parties are out of control.”
The Alcohol Task Force is being brought out earlier than anticipated, according to Younger.
The task force is a random patrol that will work in conjunction with Residence Life. “We will respond to party sites,” Younger said with certainty.
Younger and other members of DPS encourage students to review their student handbooks as well as the University policy about underage drinking and noise complaints.
DPS will be “more involved” with these complaints, Younger said. This involvement includes possible arrests, city summons issuance and student judicial referral.
“I don’t want this to be a heavy-handed enforcement approach,” he continued. “We want to incorporate education and learning into this program.”
Younger said that he hopes this will set the tone for what is “expected behavior” of SLU students. The reason for concern is the safety of students.
“A lot of parties tend to create noise complaints,” he said.
Younger provided some statistics on underage drinking:
Using alcohol at an early age has proven to retard the maturation rate, which increases the potential for violent behavior.
Most youth who drink in high school go on to drink in college.
The risk of alcoholism is nearly 40 percent for those starting to drink at or before the age of 15, and 25 percent for those who start at the age of 17.
Underage drinking at these parties raises the potential for students to participate in driving while intoxicated, physical violence and destruction of property, Younger said.
The main problem is that underage drinking is against the law. “Not only does this violate Residence Life and University policies, but also city ordinances,” he continued.
Younger pointed out that the Grand Forest Apartments are not the only campus housing that is under close scrutiny. The Village Apartments and the Marchetti Towers are also still a popular sight for parties, according to officials in DPS.
One of the major problems when responding to parties is that it takes DPS officers off of their regular patrol, according to Younger.
The Alcohol Task Force was created last year due to frequent calls to the Marchetti Towers, Younger said. It was built on a plan by the Montgomery County, Maryland Police Department and enforced by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.
Younger wants to correct the myth that some students believe: “They think that drinking and college life is a rite of passage. That’s not correct,” he said.
DPS doesn’t want to simply chase the problem away.
“We’re doing this out of concern for students,” Younger said. “We want to get the message out to students and the rest of the community.”
