Author: Faryn Borella
The number of hospital transports due to Toga decreased from 13 last year to four this year, according to Assistant Dean of Students and Director of Student Life Tamara Rice. This is contrary to rumors that claim over 20 students required transports.
“It was definitely better than last year,” Rice said. “I know a lot of people are describing it as a shit-show, but from my perspective, because I’ve seen now four of them, I think it was one of the better ones because I do think for the most part that students were keeping it in and were able just to have some fun.”
However, a decision has not yet been made as to whether Toga will be continued in the coming years.
“I don’t want to make a decision about Toga 2012 just yet mainly because I don’t feel like I have all the information. Sometimes reports get in a little bit later,” Rice said.
Many students expressed concern for the future of Toga following an e-mail sent by Rice the Friday prior to the event.
“If the ‘ugly side’ of Toga continues and overshadows the institutionalized community builder that it is, I will have no other choice than to give Toga a break for a few years,” the e-mail read. “It would be unfortunate (to say the least), if poor choices made tomorrow resulted in depriving future generations of Oxy students the opportunity to enjoy an event like Toga.”
Although there was a decrease in the amount of hospital transports, that does not guarantee the continuance of Toga. “It’s four more than I want,” Rice said. However, she stipulated that no decision will be made in the immediate future.
The first incident of the evening occurred at 11:47 p.m., when a student was found unresponsive on the lawn outside of the Cooler. The student was transported to Glendale Adventist Hospital.
Two more students were reported with “alcohol poisoning” later in the evening, and also required transfer to Glendale Adventist. The fourth student who required transfer had consumed alcohol, but required transfer due to a fall and subsequent injury.
It is possible that more students had to go to the hospital, but these are the only four incidents reported, according to Campus Safety.
Rice credited this lower number of hospital transports to the efforts made by student groups to ensure the safety of the event. Members of Alpha Lambda Phi Alpha, who organize the event every year, spoke with the administration, went to hallspreads and quad-sat to encourage students to act responsibly.
“We had people make pledges to say that they were going to keep track of their drinking or just to promote responsible drinking because we can’t really be like ‘don’t drink,'” Alpha President Erika Nacim (senior) said. “So I think, taking that into consideration, acknowledging that students are going to partake in those kinds of things, really helped.” Alpha also partnered with Project SAFE to raise awareness and promote social responsibility.
“I do think it was a better event than in previous years because of the community effort,” Rice said.
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