In order to prepare students for a safe homecoming, several activities were planned, as well as a security measures in order to ensure safety on campus. During Homecoming Week, alcohol and consent awareness was raised in order to educate students about alcohol and consent awareness in preparation of the tailgate.
According to Sarah Nichols, Associate Director of Residence Life, “Our goal was to raise awareness so that students would know about the amnesty policy in place, educating students on the symptoms of alcohol poisoning, and to let students know about serving sizes.”
“The amnesty policy is that if you call for help for your friend, you will not get in trouble. For example, if you and a friend were underage drinking. You notice that your friend was showing signs of alcohol poisoning, and you call for help – you will not be in trouble for that,” Nichols continues.
Jennifer Ajinga, a member of the Residence Life Committee stated, “We wanted to encourage people to get help without worrying about the consequences because safety is the first and foremost priority.”
“We came at this using a harm reduction model. We were not out there saying that you could not drink, and even though we have policies in place, it is more important for us that the students stay safe if they did choose to go out and drink,” Nichols continues.
In order to accomplish the goals of educating students, there were events, and campaigns planned.
Posters were put around the school, and residence halls. Posters about serving sizes were put up so students can know their limits. There were also flip menus put on the tables of the diner for both alcohol and consent awareness.
RHA and SXC also handed out full-sized candy bars to students who could tell them three signs of alcohol poisoning. RHA went into the residence halls and SXC went to students in the Warde. In total there were 140 full-sized candy bars, so they talked to a minimum of 140 students about alcohol awareness.
There was also a two-day tabling activity where students were able to try on fatal vision goggles. The students would try to complete small tasks, and see how being impaired during intoxication affects them.
Residence Life had also planned events in order to raise awareness about consent.
Ajinga says, “In order to raise awareness about consent, we partnered with a faculty member to have conversations on consent from a masculine and feminine perspective. We met separately. Together based on gender identity to talk about how we could avoid sexual assault. We focused a lot on how to not sexually assault people. We spent a lot of time talking about how to gain consent when people are under the influence, whether or not you can even gain consent when someone is under the influence, and also the ways in which men and women are treated differently when it comes to sexual assault. We were very candid in making sure that there is consent from all parties. We had also put up bulletin boards and signs around campus to raise awareness.”
“We had also partnered with the counseling center so we could have these conversations in a safe way. We wanted to remind students that the counseling center is not there just if you have a mental illness and that they could talk about anything with them,” continues Ajinga.
On the day of the tailgate, public safety had provided security for the people present on campus.
According to Jack Tuohy, Chief of Police and Executive Director Department of Public Safety, “From a public safety standpoint some of the things we adjusted for this football season, not just homecoming, were a more collaborative effort in regards to discussions taking place with student life, athletics. We worked with our grounds department to ensure more garbage cans were placed in the parking lots and emptied on a regular basis. We increased signage, and working with student life got the word out to respect our neighbors regarding behavior and loud music.”
“Additionally, this year we are dedicating police officers to patrol the parking lots the whole game, this is a little different from the past practice of checking lots during the course of a game when we could. The idea behind the dedicated officers is to have more of a presence the whole game so that students, alum, and guests see the officers on a regular basis, and the groups get to know each other better,” Touhy continues.
Touhy finishes with, “Our goal from public safety, and I believe overall from a university standpoint is to have students. Alums and guests enjoy themselves while still maintaining good behavior so that our neighbors and all those attending the football game can have an overall enjoyable experience.”