Photo by Kaitlin Oki / Nevada Sagebrush

By Rocio Hernandez

Last fall, former UNR Resident Assistant Derek Powell was on official rounds in Nye Hall. He and another RA went to the eighth floor to start their inspection. They walked in the hallway of the eighth floor, and they saw a girl stumbling. She was intoxicated.

They asked for her name and her room number while they tried to guide her to the bathroom. She was allegedly walking into every wall in the path. Afterwards, they wanted to let her sleep it off, but her roommate was not home.

“We didn’t feel comfortable leaving her alone in her room this intoxicated,” Powell said. “She could choke on vomit or lock herself out of her room should she actually make it to the bathroom. She could stumble or black out somewhere.”

They had the resident director handle the situation. The RD decided to call the Regional Medical Emergency Services Authority (REMSA) as the resident was passing out in a chair in the lounge on the main floor.

After she was taken to the hospital, Powell filed an incident report. The student was not removed from Nye Hall after that incident but was required to go through the one of the resources and programs available on campus. These programs include BASICS (Brief Alcohol Screening & Intervention for College Students), CASICS (Cannabis Screening & Intervention for College Students), STEPSS (Substance Treatment & Education for Personal Student Success), OnTRAC (Treatment, Responsibility & Accountability on Campus) or an individual substance abuse counseling and assessment. The program that students start at will depends on the evaluation of health care professionals.

According to Commander J.K. Hawthorne, the University of Nevada, Reno Police Services issue five to six Minor in Possession or Consumption (MIPC) citations or arrests per week. These are primarily issued on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.

“Surprisingly, Thursdays are busier than Fridays and Saturdays, maybe because there are fewer classes on Friday, and there is always Thirsty Thursday up at the Little Waldorf and parties happen on Thursday,” Hawthorne said.

The students that make it back to the residence halls falling over or vomiting are usually those that get denied access to the residence halls.

“If you are an underage student, and if you were drinking say one beer and you come back to the hall and are not causing problems or bringing attention to yourself, the likelihood of us interacting with you because of you consuming alcohol because you are underage is very slight,” Assistant Director of Residence Life Student Conduct/Safety Charles Clement said. “If, however, you are out and you drink ten beers, and you come back and you’re falling down, you can’t come through the door, you vomited on yourself, and you’re loud, obnoxious and saying rude things to the staff – that brings our attention to that.”

According to Clement, even if the roommate of an intoxicated student were to offer to care for them, they can’t put that responsibility on anyone, including residence hall staff. Clements said the staff is not trained and roommates are not reliable caretakers.

Former Nevada Living Learning Community Resident Assistant Theodore Meek said that refusal of entry occurs with the intoxicated students’ safety in mind.

“We have to keep in mind as peer-professional staff members is if there was an emergency building and everybody had to evacuate, would that student be able to solely as a single individual, get out of the building safely, and if the answer to that is no then we need to refuse them entry,” said Meek.

“Some people say, ‘Well that’s not fair,’” Clement said. “Okay, if they have two beers or three beers, we wouldn’t be having this issue.”

Powell said that all resident hall students sign a binding contract with the university to abide by the rules of the residence. He says that once the student breaks the contract, they lose the right to enter their room.

Meek thinks that there is still something that could be done to ensure the safety of intoxicated students if they are denied access into the residence halls.

“I definitely think there is some work to be done in that area, which is, it’s a very small group of people that would apply to,” Meek said. “I would agree that we are lacking a support mechanism for students who are refused entry of the buildings.”

Rocio Hernandez can be reached at rhernandezzarate@sagebrush.unr.edu