NU student tells story of Alumni Weekend DUI charge

By Natasha Waggoner
Norwich Guidon Staff Writer

"Alumni weekend, two years ago, we were on our way to a condo in Sugarbush," Phil recalls. "From there we went to Gallagher's."

Phil, 21, a senior criminal justice major who asked that his real name not be used, said he had "every intention" of leaving his car at one of the alumni condos overnight, rather than drive while under the influence of alcohol.

But later that night, Phil said some of his friends flipped their Jeep, putting Phil and his friends short of rides. He volunteered himself to be a driver.

"I was on the mountain road coming back, and at that time I was driving my mom's car," Phil said. "One of the reasons I was pulled over because the cops saw a lot of young kids in a Mercedes Benz and also I was doing 58 in a 50."

Phil was given a sobriety test and then a breathalyzer test.

"I passed the sobriety test, and I assumed I'd be all right with the breathalyzer," Phil said. "I didn't think I'd had that much to drink."

According to Phil, he blew a .10 on the breathalyzer, .02 over the legal limit for drivers over the age of 21. Phil was only 19.

According to Phil, he was then put in the police car and taken to the police station in Barre. He was later picked up by friends.

Phil said that he wasn't nervous until he actually got out of the car. It had been awhile since he had had anything alcoholic to drink, and during the time since he'd stopped, he said he had been drinking water.

While more than one-third (35.6%) of college students surveyed reported having driven under the influence, only 1.7% said they were arrested, according to the MADD web site (http://www.madd.org).

"Drunk driving is a bit of an issue on this campus," said Chris Tucker, 21, a junior business management major from Pittsfield, Mass., and chairman of the Norwich Alcohol Awareness and Prevention Committee. "The problem is when students are driving back from Burlington and the pub and are being pulled over and given DUI's."

According to Mike McKean, Commandant of Cadets and Vice President of student affairs, drunk driving should not be an issue on the campus.

"There's no excuse whatsoever for anyone to be drunk driving; that's a choice," McKean said. "I don't buy it that we're isolated, I don't buy it for any reason at all. If a student gets pulled over and gets charged with drunk driving, that's their fault, their choice."

The policy here at Norwich supports the laws of the state, according to McKean.

"The solution to this is not really an easy solution," according to Tucker. "What we're doing right now is trying to organize an event where, hopefully, the Northfield police or Vermont State Police come with us and sponsor an event at the Pub."

According to Tucker, at the event he hopes to hold at Frankenstein's, the local Northfield bar commonly referred to by students as "the Pub", police officers will give everyone in the bar a breathalyzer test over the course of the night.

"We're going to show them what their levels are after one drink, two drinks and so forth," Tucker said. "We're trying to show them that you might not be feeling drunk or impaired, but your blood alcohol level at the time is over the legal limit."

Tucker said he is also planning to do a class with upperclassmen and freshmen on their blood alcohol content (BAC). He said he also hopes to teach students how fast their kidneys absorb and processes liquor, how fast it takes to get to the legal limit and what it is to be under it.

"We're going to have 'drunk goggles' in the mill, where students can see what their surroundings look like at different alcohol contents like a .008, .06 and a .12," Tucker said. "Those are the type of things we're doing. Just educating the students is the biggest thing."

Along with education comes the issue of being responsible enough and having designated drivers, according to McKean.

"If you're a bunch of people going out drinking and are over 21, have a designated driver," McKean said. "That's what adults do; that's what we do in society in America."

One solution that seems very easy to some students is a "21 Club" on campus.

It would be safe, and students wouldn't need to drive, according to Tucker; however, "it does have its problems."

"I have my committee working on a proposal for the 21 Club, the pros and cons, to see what the general feeling is," Tucker said. "There's a lot of logistical problems with that, such as insurance, liability, who would run it, advisors, where it would be, and then there are funding issues."

According to Tucker, Norwich gets money to be a dry campus from the federal government, and if the campus is no longer dry, the school loses that money.

"Being able to have a place where students can socially enjoy drinking and still be able to walk back to their rooms," Tucker said. "I feel is important and will reduce the incidence of drunk driving."

According to Tucker, there have been three students charged with DUI while returning from Frankenstein's, the local pub in Northfield. There have been six students charged this year.

Under a revised alcohol policy at Norwich this year, designated drivers are no longer punished for tolerating violations of the alcohol policy, according to McKean.

"What I'm trying to do is initiate a reward system for designated drivers," Tucker said. "But the bottom line is, if you're not going to be able to drive, you're going to need to call someone on campus to come get you."

According to McKean, "there is no middle ground on this issue; it's very black and white. People are just using poor judgment."

"The biggest thing in fixing this problem is education," Tucker said. "People knowing what they're getting into, what their blood alcohol content is and knowing when they can and can't drive."

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