I was down at Club Lime on Friday night and stepped outside for a few minutes to take a break from the dance floor, and, lo and behold, there was a person sprawled out on the sidewalk throwing up, surrounded by three cops. He looked like an RPI student, and he was seemingly alone. I wanted to make sure that the situation didn’t end with the student being arrested, so I stuck around for a little bit to see how it would play out. Finally, someone found two of the kid’s friends from inside the club. I pulled one of them aside and asked if they went to RPI. They did, and I decided I would much rather have him go home with me than with the Troy Police Department. I told the cops my position within the Union and that I would take care of getting him back into his dorm. Thankfully they agreed this option was the best. On the way back to his dorm, I learned that he was a freshman and that although he was drinking with his friends, they had no idea how much he drank. Unfortunately, he would not or could not shed any further light on the question. Thankfully, he had good friends who took care of him after he was drunk and the situation turned out OK.

This illustrates a big point: You don’t know people’s history—you don’t know if they pregamed with six shots or came to you stone cold sober. You must always be aware of what’s going on around you and to not let situations escalate out of control. If you are hanging out with people and they are drinking, it is an absolute necessity to know how much alcohol they have consumed. You should not be getting completely trashed on a random night when you decide to go out to the club.