Letters to the Editor

1/27/11 6:00pm

To the Editor:In the early morning hours of Saturday, Jan. 15, 2011, the Rice community emergency services, EMS and police, were very busy with medical emergencies and were stretched thin. These medical calls also placed high demands on the Houston Fire Department ambulance services.

When I was informed of this critical situation, I came to campus to observe the conditions that prompted the medical emergencies myself. I was advised that there had been several unscheduled parties or "crawls" that had become public due to the number of people participating. As I walked through several of the residential colleges that had precipitated the emergency responses, I observed unattended and uncontrolled alcoholic beverages left out in public areas of the colleges. Since these beverages were accessible to anyone in the college regardless of age, I directed our police officers to impound the alcoholic beverages and transport them to the police department for safekeeping.

During this entire time, we entered no private rooms. No students, or anyone else, were arrested or given citations. There were no ongoing parties and all alcohol was taken from publicly accessible areas of the colleges. The alcoholic beverages that were impounded for safekeeping are still at the police department waiting to be claimed by their rightful owners.

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I also found it unconscionable that the writer of one opinion piece in the Jan. 21 edition of the Thresher inferred that the university administration was considering drastically altering the alcohol policy and this would be cause for the students to move off campus, which would "leave students much more vulnerable to crime and Houston Police run-ins." ("Rice alcohol policy review: spring 2011") I have regularly been in touch with Dean of Undergraduates John Hutchinson, and he has told me that there is no intent to change the alcohol policy. Students are only being asked to comply with the alcohol policy that they already have. This alcohol policy was originated by students in the 1980s, revised by them in the 90s and again in 2002. It continues to be their alcohol policy.

The police department has not changed its enforcement policy. Students have changed their behavior by using alcohol in a manner that circumvents the alcohol policy, which has caused a dangerous situation to develop that can no longer be ignored. Our responsibility is to keep students and other members of the university community safe. Sometimes that means we have to take action when we observe self-destructive or endangering behavior exhibited by members of our community. Interestingly, students are claiming that our "new" officers are not following the same practices as our senior officers, yet our newer officers are the ones whose names have come up most frequently as being more liberal. Our senior officers are the ones who have been most active in enforcing the alcohol policy and state law. They have seen the change in student behavior and recognize the need for students to come back into compliance with the alcohol policy.

I want to remind everyone that we are a community that has a core value of caring for one another. No matter how it might have occurred, please do not take chances with the lives of individuals who have overindulged. People can die from alcohol poisoning or their own vomit. Please call for medical assistance at the earliest indication that someone is having difficulty. Calling too late may be as dangerous as not calling at all.

A "Culture of Care" means everyone looks out for one another!

Bill Taylor

Chief of Police

Director of Public Safety

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