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The Rice Thresher
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by Rachel Rustin Thresher staff After a private party at Jones College Friday night, one freshman went to the hospital for alcohol poisoning, and President Malcolm Gillis paid a morning visit. According to Jones President Avinash Pinto, the college will not be put on any kind of alcohol probation, and the college cabinet is dealing with the problem. The student went to Memorial Hermann Hospital and was released the same day. Gillis said that from his house early Saturday morning, he saw an ambulance and police cars pull up outside of Jones South. "I was doing my exercises on my weightlifting machine , and I saw the ambulances pull up and the police cars and I thought, 'What the hell?' and so I ran over and I was told that there was a student in very serious condition upstairs on the second floor," Gillis said. "So I went up there and I asked had [Jones Master] Rick Barrera been awakened, and I said, 'Please awaken him now.' And I went into the student's room, and I was extremely concerned at the appearance of the student. And then I said, 'Now I'm getting the hell out of here so I won't be in the way.' That's it. "To be quite frank, I was extremely worried. The guy had been vomiting in his sleep, and I know what happens. At Duke, a person died of that last year," Gillis said. Jones senior Richard Fuquay and other students from the second and third floors of Jones South decided early this semester to plan the party on Friday. According to Fuquay, they raised funds for the party by hosting a slave auction and selling T-shirts, which have not yet been printed. "We've kind of pooled our resources all semester leading up to this party, so there was a ton of alcohol and a lot of drinking," Fuquay said. "And it was a good party. A lot of people had a good time, but unfortunately people got sick and one Jones person had to go to the hospital the next day." Jones has security for all private parties that have registered a keg, such as this one. Students were stationed at each exit on the floor to keep people from leaving the floor with alcohol. Jones freshman Alan Kolodny serves as the Second South justice for the second floor of Jones South and worked a security shift. Kolodny said attendance at the party was "unbelievable," but there were enough security volunteers to fill all the spots without double shifts. "From this party, we decided that we need a little bit more security in the aftermath of it," Kolodny said. "There were really more people than we expected, and that was part of the problem." Jones Cabinet is handling the situation, and the Jones masters have agreed with their decisions. Currently, there are no plans to punish the college by making it go dry. In 1997, Brown College was put on alcohol probation by Judicial Affairs after a series of private parties grew out of control and the same freshman student went to the hospital twice for excessive drinking. "After the party, there's been a lot of conversation, mainly on this floor, but in the executive cabinet of Jones, too," Fuquay said. "It's kind of like the unanimous opinion - if we're going to throw a party of this magnitude in the future, we've got to have No. 1, more people working security, and being more vigilant about when people are getting really drunk, [either] trying to kind of cut them off or asking them to leave the party." In a letter sent to the Jones listserv, executive cabinet members wrote that they will "institute new policies to ensure that Jones has a safer social environment through keeping a watchful eye on parties, etc." The letter also stresses that everyone has limits when it comes to alcohol and that Jones students need to pay attention to their limits and the limits of those around them. "We were really concerned about the issue because at a college, everyone is really concerned when someone gets taken to the hospital, so as a cabinet we met and talked and decided a couple of things," Jones President Avinash Pinto, a senior, said. "We decided to promote social responsibility within the college. Students really need to be re-educated about the alcohol policy, the effects of alcohol on people and that sort of thing." According to Jones Chief Justice Rajan Patel, a senior, students are also going to try to ensure that future private parties remain private and that alcohol is not served to people who are already drunk. They are also taking more action to increase awareness of issues surrounding alcohol. "We're planning on putting up fliers around the college about certain instances of a student drinking too much and dying at another college, and we hope that that will strike in them not necessarily a fear, but a realization of the problem," Patel said.
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