Revelers at this year's Spring Weekend were met with a controlled scene, with few major disruptions and a decrease in alcohol-related Brown Emergency Medical Services ambulance transports from last year. As the weekend drew to a close, rumors about a conflict between the University and Sigma Chi over bulk beer purchases swirled around campus, but University officials and members of the fraternity said the situation is still unresolved and offered few details.
"Everyone from the deans, EMS, (the Department of Public Safety) and Green Horn Management thought everything went really smoothly," said Margaret Klawunn, associate vice president for campus life and dean of student life. Student organizers "were equally happy with how things turned out," she said.
Green Horn Management is a private event management company hired by the University to man Spring Weekend festivities.
Only 10 alcohol-related EMS calls and four transports - two to area hospitals - were reported from Thursday night through Saturday night, far fewer than the 22 calls and 10 hospital transports made during Spring Weekend in 2006 over the three-day period from Thursday to Saturday nights, University officials said. Though statistics for the exact number of alcohol-related EMS assistances, which can include help from foot patrols and DPS, were not available.
The number of Spring Weekend EMS calls and transports was "not that much different from a typical weekend," said the EMS on-duty supervisor. A second ambulance hired by the University for Friday and Saturday nights was only used for one transport.
Though event management policies for this year's Spring Weekend did not vary significantly from last year's, the EMS supervisor suggested this year's spring weather may have influenced students' drinking behavior, distracting them from more destructive binge drinking indoors.
"People were playing Frisbee or walking around enjoying the weather," the supervisor said. "When people are indoors at parties, they drink more."
The weekend's events were similarly under control, with no major disturbances, Klawunn said. The only major issue from Spring Weekend surrounded Sigma Chi's conspicuous absence from Saturday's Rage on Wriston event. The fraternity did not host an event on Saturday but held a small invitation-only cocktail party Friday and a registered porch event Sunday, said fraternity member Kevin Volk '08.
According to Klawunn, the fraternity purchased a large amount of wholesale beer - delivered to campus on Friday, April 13 - that the University deemed excessive. During the week, University officials "worked with leadership at the fraternity and with Greek Counsel to reduce the inventory (of beer) to levels that would not promote over-consumption," Klawunn said.
Though Klawunn did not explicitly point to this purchase as the reason for the fraternity's lack of a party Saturday, she did cite University recommendations against bulk beer purchases.
"Bulk beer purchases encourage over-consumption, and that is something that we don't want to happen," Klawunn said.
Sigma Chi President Keith Putnam-Delaney '07 declined to give an official statement to The Herald, saying the fraternity needed more time to consider the matter.
"We are in touch with the liquor control board and our legal counsel, and we need a day to figure things out," Delaney said.
Despite the troubles with Sigma Chi, Klawunn said University officials were pleased with the weekend.
"The administration of the events went extremely well," Klawunn said. "There were a couple of counterfeit tickets for Saturday's concert, but the people staffing the events seemed to think things went very well."
Crowds at Zeta Delta Xi's traditional spaghetti and wine "raucous dinner party," Spagfest, were similarly contained, if not tame. Partygoers were doused with pasta sauce and red wine inside a tent under the watchful eye of security guards and deans on call. Impromptu parties, such as a naked drum circle on the Main Green Saturday night, were broken up uneventfully by Department of Public Safety officers.
