Although the annual number of alcohol violations reported by the Department of Public Safety dropped by 31 percent from 2007 to 2009, the number of alcohol-related calls, or EtOH calls, to the Georgetown Emergency Response Medical Service has stayed roughly the same for the past two academic years.
The number of alcohol violations reported to DPS has been decreasing since 2005. In the Oct. 5 edition of the Hoya, Joseph Smith, associate director of DPS, attributed the drop to the heightened University regulations on party registration and keg limitations.
There has been roughly the same number of EtOH calls at this point in the semester as the last two academic years, according to data provided by GERMS Captain Brendan Maggiore (MSB ’11). Out of the roughly 1,000 calls GERMS receives annually, approximately 16 percent are EtOH calls.
Freshmen have received treatment from GERMS for cases involving alcohol almost twice as frequently as other students.
This semester, 16 calls have been made from University-owned upperclassmen dorms and apartment complexes. Twenty-nine calls have been made from first year residence halls.
Freshmen students said the number of GERMS EtOH calls to first year residences is due to their lack of familiarity with the effects of alcohol.
“I think a lot of people go crazy once they leave their parents,” Martin Hussey (SFS ’14), a resident of New South Hall, said. “After freshman year, they realize this isn’t what you’re supposed to do.”
