My campus in an uproar (a bit long)

[tommyk90 5,000+ posts]

This is over a combination of things, one of them being what happened last weekend. Police raided two frats over the weekend (one friday, one saturday), because they suspected underage drinking. The frat they raided on saturday, they actually came in with guns drawn......

Needless to say, all the frats are really pissed off. To make matters worse, police busted the two student escort vans (things that are supposed to keep us safe), because underagers were using them to get back to their dorms from parties. Police pretty much made up a story as to WHY they pulled the vans over, claiming that the first van went the wrong way down a one-way street. What i heard from insiders was that the police had set up a sting operation and forced the driver to turn the wrong way in order to have a reason to pull the van over. In all, 11 people were arrested and taken to jail.

So now there is going to be a big protest tomorrow (wednesday), and it looks like it's going to be a big deal. CBS and ABC have already had reports on it, and they are supposed to cover the protest too.

Here's the two news clips:

http://cbs2chicago.com/topstories/local_story_115135238.html (video clip too)

http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=local&id=4113378

And here's the clips from the newspaper. Keep in mind, the first story that the cops said is pretty much all fabricated.

Valparaiso University Police pulled over two Student Escort Service vans early Sunday morning, resulting in the arrest of 11 students who were charged with minor consumption of alcohol.

According to a VUPD report, officers observed an escort van turning north onto College Avenue, a one-way-only southbound road. A patrol unit pulled over the van, and Sergeant Danny Schultz approached the vehicle and asked the driver to exit the vehicle.

After exiting the vehicle, the driver apologized for turning the wrong way, but said that she had been dealing with a lot of belligerent and intoxicated students throughout the night. When asked if the belligerent students were still on the van, the driver said that those students had already been dropped off.

Schultz reportedly then approached the van and opened the passenger-side middle door. The officer detected the odor of alcohol, and asked the students if they had been drinking that night. No one immediately admitted to drinking, but one student only looked straight ahead. When Schultz asked the student if he had been drinking, the student did not reply until Schultz tapped him on the leg.

The student then said that he had not been drinking, despite the fact that the officer reported the student smelled of alcohol, had unsteady balance, slurred speech, bloodshot eyes and a flushed face.

The officer then obtained identification from the other students and told the driver to take the van to the VUPD for further investigation.

Meanwhile, Sergeant Charles Garber had observed students enter two escort vans outside a house in the 400 block of Monroe Street. Garber followed the second van to the corner of Union Street and College Avenue, where the second van pulled close to where the first van had already been pulled over.

Garber then exited his car and approached the van, where he reportedly detected “an extremely strong odor of alcohol beverage omitting from the inside of the van.” Garber requested identification from all the students and had the escort van driver return the vehicle, and the underage students who had been drinking, to VUPD for processing.

Once the two vans arrived at the VUPD station, the officers began administering preliminary breath tests to the students in the second van. While the tests were being taken, the driver of the first van informed the officers that one of the students was vomiting inside the van. The student was vomiting on the floor of the van and on one of the other passengers.

Schultz asked the student to exit the van but when the student stood up, he fell against the passenger door. Schultz had to grab the student by the shoulders and carried him to the front of the VUPD building, where the student vomited again, this time on the ground and on the officer's shirt and pants.

Another officer then had to carry the student to the VUPD lobby while another officer called EMS for medical treatment. Before EMS arrived, the student vomited for a third time in a trash can and, according to the report, began “banging his head several times against the lobby wall.”

When the student was being secured in the EMS cot, the student “became emotional toward the EMS staff and vomited outside the VUPD building.”

All of the students were eventually given Breathalyzer tests, but one student, Travis Peterson, repeatedly refused to take the tests. Of the 11 students arrested, only five of the test results were obtained. Three students had blood alcohol content levels below the legal limit of .08. One student tested at a .092 level and another, the student who was taken to the hospital by EMS, was recorded as testing at a .176 level.

The students arrested in the first van were freshman Brittany Engen, Brett Bermes and Jamie Christ, sophomore Eric Brooks and the hospitalized student whose name was not released. The students arrested in the second van were freshman Sonia Amiran, Travis Peterson and Paul Schreiber and sophomores Zachary Bergman, Phil Dennis and Sarah Wendler.

Garber escorted 10 of the students to the Porter County Jail for processing and detainment.

And here's what the police PLANNED to do about it....

Soon, students may no longer find the Student Escort Service vans a realistic option for those who have been drinking, after 11 passengers were arrested early Sunday morning.

The Valparaiso University Police Department, owner and provider of the vans, wants to deter students who have been drinking from using them. The VUPD Web site states that the service is provided ‘to enhance security and to increase crime prevention services already in operation.’

“The (SES) is provided for women on campus as a means of safe and secure transportation,” said VUPD Chief Ed Lloyd. “I don’t want drunk kids using the van service; that’s not what it is there for. (The VUPD) is not going to be an enabler for (underage drinking).”

Therefore, Lloyd has decided to resume the practice of police ride-alongs.

“We used to place officers, uniformed and (plain-clothed), randomly on vans. We’ll be doing that again, especially during the upcoming spring weekend,” Lloyd said.

Other changes being discussed include the use of adult drivers in place of students and changing SES van routes to include only campus stops.While the VUPD plans to tighten security in the SES, some students are concerned that targeting the vans will promote unsafe behavior, such as drinking and driving, instead of deterring alcohol consumption.

“What I fear is that this incident may cause students to ride the vans less in the future,” said SES Director Michael Supp.

While Lloyd asserts that student drivers are instructed not to pick up intoxicated passengers, other drivers claim they are instructed to pick up people at their own discretion.

One SES driver explained that, when hired, a VUPD officer encouraged the pickup of intoxicated students because “it was the safest thing to do.”

“(Students) should avoid being involved in risky behavior,” said Lloyd when asked what students who have been drinking should do. “But if (students) do drink, they should have a sober person with them to take care of them.”

It's gonna be an interesting day tomorrow, thats for sure.

Click to read more...

 

[InhumanAcura 5,000+ posts]

things are only going to get worse.

 

[AllStar1500bd 5,000+ posts]

That's bullshit!!! OSU has a Saferide van with the intentions of getting people back safe to campus or their house no matter how old you are, no questions asked.

As for the frats being entered, the police have NO RIGHTS to enter private property (which includes frat houses, but NOT dorms) unless they physically see a problem with their own eyes.

 

[AllStar1500bd 5,000+ posts]

Wait.. why did they arrest underage drinkers? Is that the state law? In Oregon, you only get an MIP which is a fine of $300 or so.

 

[Chevyaudio 5,000+ posts]

Sounds rough....makes me happy to be going to LSU, where the cops could give a dammn what age you are. They crack down on underage drinking like the first week of the year and mostly give out warnings no tickets.

 

[Immigration]

Team RR is on the case. These bogus popo's will be taken down. FTW.

 

[AllStar1500bd 5,000+ posts]

Team RR is on the case. These bogus popo's will be taken down. FTW.

Indeed. First comes scammers, then immigrants, then crooked cops.

 

[bimma85 5,000+ posts]

Dont have time to read it all right now //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/crap.gif.7f4dd41e3e9b23fbd170a1ee6f65cecc.gif, but you're in Chicago right? Police there have nothing better to do than bust some kids for drinking some boose?? wtf is wrong with people these days //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/crap.gif.7f4dd41e3e9b23fbd170a1ee6f65cecc.gif

 

[tommyk90 5,000+ posts]

Wait.. why did they arrest underage drinkers? Is that the state law? In Oregon, you only get an MIP which is a fine of $300 or so.

Valpo IS a dry campus. Thats where things get tricky.

But the problem is that there have been so many conflicting stories from different police officers on picking up drunk people. Some cops say don't do it, others say that the drivers have a choice, and others say that they should pick them up because its the "safe thing to do".

I'm sure that parents are thrilled that the university is encouraging people to drink and drive or crash at some random house rather than having a safe ride back to their dorms. Underage drinking is going to happen no matter how hard the school tries, by taking away the laid van (as its called by students, because the extension to call up the van spells LAID), most people have no option left but to drive.

On a side note, according to a news friend of mine, 12 of the 17 van drivers quit after the incident, so the van isn't running at ALL now.

Also, if you think that having a sober/legal person to drive you home is an option, try again. Police are pulling over people who are giving rides to underagers and issuing citations to them too, and taking the underagers to jail.

 

[AllStar1500bd 5,000+ posts]

Valpo IS a dry campus. Thats where things get tricky.

But the problem is that there have been so many conflicting stories from different police officers on picking up drunk people. Some cops say don't do it, others say that the drivers have a choice, and others say that they should pick them up because its the "safe thing to do".

I'm sure that parents are thrilled that the university is encouraging people to drink and drive or crash at some random house rather than having a safe ride back to their dorms. Underage drinking is going to happen no matter how hard the school tries, by taking away the laid van (as its called by students, because the extension to call up the van spells LAID), most people have no option left but to drive.

On a side note, according to a news friend of mine, 12 of the 17 van drivers quit after the incident, so the van isn't running at ALL now.

Also, if you think that having a sober/legal person to drive you home is an option, try again. Police are pulling over people who are giving rides to underagers and issuing citations to them too, and taking the underagers to jail.

They are doing the wrong thing. It's only going to lead to more DUI's and more incidents where people get injured in the process. They really need to re-think their motives.
I'm sure when this goes nation-wide, as it seems like with ABC and CBS covering it, that they are going to have to prepare for a major shitstorm from parents and other people who care enough to put their two cents in.

The bolded statement is absolutely the truth, no way underagers are going to be like "oh shit, now I'm not going to drink". College life for the majority of people contains at least a moderate amount of drinking, and college students are usually more careful about getting themselves into trouble while drinking.

 

[iagrdshaka 5,000+ posts]

Total bullshit to me. The cops should get something better to do.

 

[btnhfan 5,000+ posts]

That's bullshit!!! OSU has a Saferide van with the intentions of getting people back safe to campus or their house no matter how old you are, no questions asked.
As for the frats being entered, the police have NO RIGHTS to enter private property (which includes frat houses, but NOT dorms) unless they physically see a problem with their own eyes.

It may not be private property if the school owns the land its own.

 

[tommyk90 5,000+ posts]

It may not be private property if the school owns the land its own.

I'm not sure how that works.

But it was the valparaiso city cops that apparently got there first. Thats the problem with stuff like this, there are WAAAAAY too many sources to listen to. Which one is the right one is a shot in the dark.

 

[AllStar1500bd 5,000+ posts]

Total bullshit to me. The cops should get something better to do.

True, and I don't know about there but at OSU all the frats are privately owned and funded by the students living there, certain sponsers (including Pabst Blue Ribbon who funds a frat on campus), and alumni who lived there.

 

[tommyk90 5,000+ posts]

True, and I don't know about there but at OSU all the frats are privately owned and funded by the students living there, certain sponsers (including Pabst Blue Ribbon who funds a frat on campus), and alumni who lived there.

I know for a fact that the kids who live in the house pays for it, but i'm not sure if the buildings are owned outright by the university. Something is telling me no.