Soggy weather and a brisk temperature of 50 degrees over the weekend didn't turn revelers away from Green Key festivities, as a rising number of inebriates stopped by Safety and Security indicates.
This year there were 17 incidents involving intoxicated students, up from 12 incidents last year. Ten were taken to Dick's House, six were turned over to the custody of friends or roommates, and one student was brought by ambulance to the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center.
The most significant difference between this year's Green Key weekend and last year's was the number of fire safety violations: two were reported last year, while this past weekend resulted in eight -- five of which consisted of students pulling fire alarm boxes without cause.
"That takes a lot of time for us," College Proctor Robert McEwen said. "The fire department has to respond, which takes a while, and security has to show up."
McEwen said that because students tend to "take off" when they commit a violation such as pulling the fire alarm, no arrests have been made.
However, he did say that the incidents are under investigation.
The other three fire safety violations this weekend included the illegal use of candles indoors and cases of blocking a fire lane behind a fraternity.
No reports of assault were made, though McEwen added that a total compilation of the incidents which occurred over a major College weekend is not often reached until the middle of the week because people often wait until then to inform the police.
The total number of incidents reported to S&S numbered 44, up three from last year's total of 41. This number includes alcohol violations as well as personal injury, misconduct, vandalism, thefts and fire safety.
The weekend was free from any incidents of criminal trespass, unlike last year's Green Key in which two such violations occurred.
McEwen did say that two fraternities contacted S&S to aid in handling nonstudents who were being "bothersome."
S&S had orders to be "more vigilant" this year about monitoring outdoor events and students walking around campus with containers of alcohol.
"The students coordinating the [outdoor] events were pretty helpful, so that worked out well," McEwen said, adding that the cooperation of students calling in to get help for intoxicated friends and roommates was vital.
Hanover Police, concerned about the presence of alcohol and open containers, placed an officer at the end of Webster Avenue, and S&S had an additional officer there as well.
All weekend students could be seen walking the campus carrying various water bottles and mugs, and McEwen said he was not fooled by this popular attempt to hide alcohol. However, he did say that S&S could not "be too intrusive" in that respect, and that a common solution employed by campus security was to ask the student carrying the container to dump out the contents.
All in all, McEwen called Green Key 2000 "very very busy," but added that the weekend was typical of any major College weekend, and said he was grateful that there were no major injuries.
