Alcohol-related illnesses land 3 frosh in HUP

All three were treated and released, but RAs say U. should do more to restain drinking A freshman member of the varsity women's soccer team and a freshman Ware College House resident were taken to the hospital for alcohol poisoning Saturday night, sources told The Daily Pennsylvanian. Last weekend, another female freshman who lives in the Quadrangle was taken to the hospital with a life-threatening case of alcohol poisoning after Housing and Residence Life staff found her unconscious, Assistant Vice Provost for University Life Barbara Cassell said yesterday. All three students were taken to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, where they were later released. According to the University's Drug and Alcohol Policy, in cases of intoxication or alcohol poisoning, students are strongly encouraged to get medical assistance for themselves or friends who have had too much to drink. "Such efforts to obtain emergency help will not in themselves lead to disciplinary charges," the policy states. Earlier on Saturday night, upperclassmen on the women's soccer team walked around campus with freshmen team members, who were dressed alike in soccer shorts with paper bags over their heads. The freshmen sang together as they walked side by side in two rows. Yesterday, several upperclassmen team members would not comment on Saturday's events. Team captain and College senior Jill Brown referred questions to Coach Patrick Baker. Baker said he was not aware of Saturday night's activities or that one of his players had been taken to the hospital. "I would hope that our upperclassmen weren't involved," he said. "I'm very disappointed if that did happen. I would have to sit down with [the player] and the team and discuss it." Wharton seniors Todd Schuler and Jon Brightbill, both Community House residential advisers, and 1995 graduate Greg Montanaro found the soccer player lying on her back on the ground near the front gate of the Quadrangle around 2 a.m. Sunday. "She was extremely inebriated," Brightbill said. Schuler said he and Montanaro took the girl to HUP, where she was released into Schuler's custody at 7:30 a.m. Sunday. Also on Saturday night, two Ware College House staff members took a female house resident to HUP after they became concerned she had too much to drink, said House Faculty Master Jan Van der Spiegel, an Electrical Engineering professor. Graduate Fellow Angie Bolton and Administrative Fellow Jeff Mendelson, both Ware residents, took the freshman to HUP. "My main concern was her well-being and that she be in the right hands," said Bolton, a Medical student. "We followed through with it and it turned out OK." Brightbill, a former president of the Drug and Alcohol Resource Team, said the University needs to do more to prevent freshmen from drinking too much. "I don't really think the administration is taking the issue all that seriously," he said. "There's a lot of talk, and 'We need to do this and we need to do that,' but there's not a lot of action." Brightbill, who was also an RA in the Quad last year, said RAs have to clean up every week after drunk freshmen vandalize residences, vomit in the halls and are eventually taken to HUP due to excessive drinking. And Community House Assistant Dean Diana Koros said in the last two years, only one incident of vandalism or violence in Community House was not related to alcohol. She estimated that 100 incidents occur each year in Community House alone.