Princeton University confirmed that its Public Safety Department responded to 16 calls for intoxicated students over the weekend — coinciding with the eating club admission process for sophomores known as bicker — 12 of whom needed to be transported to University Medical Center Princeton.
The incidences are still being reviewed and it cannot be determined how many may have been related to bicker, said Emily Aronson, a spokeswoman for the University, in an email.
”We are looking into statistics regarding incidences in past years, but the numbers do appear to be higher than the most recent years. However, a one-year change is not a good indicator of the effect of our long-term efforts to address high-risk drinking issues,” said Ms. Aronson.
”We’re all concerned about students who drink to excess and we’re trying to reduce those occurrences by getting students more involved in solving the problem,” Ms. Aronson said.
”We have been concerned for some time about students who use alcohol to excess or abuse alcohol and this is a concern when it happens in the dorms and when it happens in the clubs (independent, off-campus eating clubs),” she said.
”We have instituted a multi-pronged approach to figure out whether we can improve our policies, whether we can improve our educational programs and if there are steps we can take to address the concerns about excessive abuse of alcohol wherever it occurs,” Ms. Aronson said.
As part of this effort, the university created the Alcohol Coalition Committee to address high-risk drinking among undergraduates, she said. This year the ACC has begun to implement its strategic plan to address high-risk drinking, she said. The ACC’s website is: http://www.princeton.edu/campuslife/acc/.
