At the beginning of every fall semester, UNK enters “The Red Zone” for alcohol violations on campus. The UNK Police Department, Residence Life and health services staff are all coordinating to combat this issue.
Ricci Fast, UNKPD chief of police, said there have been approximately 30 alcohol violations reported so far this semester.
“I’ll be honest with you, the alcohol violations are up a lot this year compared to previous years,” Ricci said. “I don’t know what the correlation is, but we’ve had a lot more mental health (calls). We’ve partnered with the counseling center, so any of the mental health welfare calls we go to, we actually bring them with us so that we have a licensed therapist at every call.”
UNK is a dry campus, meaning no one is allowed to have alcohol on school property.
Fast said the “hot spots” for these violations are near Centennial Towers East and West, as well as the neighborhood surrounding the two towers.
Kelley Robinson, UNK’s assistant director of Residence Life, said the “red zone” is the time of year when policy violations are more likely to occur.
“There’s a well-known time period in higher education called ‘The Red Zone’,” Robinson said. “That’s the beginning of the year when a lot of the alcohol violations and other policy violations occur, because students are away from home, they don’t have to report back to parents, so they’re going out (and) they’re exploring.”
Fast said the effort to reduce alcohol violations at UNK doesn’t just come from UNKPD.
“UNKPD works closely with Residence Life staff, including RAs and hall directors, since they are often the first to notice or receive reports of potential violations,” Fast said. “We also coordinate with the Office of Student Conduct, Counseling and Student Health, and various student organizations that promote wellness and responsible decision-making. It’s a team effort across campus to ensure both accountability and support.”
Robinson said alcohol violations won’t be overlooked at UNK.
“This isn’t something that we’re going to ignore,” Robinson said. “I heard a little bit from some students that on Yik Yak people were posting that ‘The RAs aren’t going to get us in trouble, they don’t care if we drink’, and then the RAs actively went and we had a lot of reports that first weekend. We are actually going to do our jobs.”
Robinson also said UNKPD has the authority to do more than just write up students who violate alcohol policies.
“UNKPD are real police officers, they’re not just campus police,” Robinson said. “They have the authority to give out Minor in Possessions. Not that I want to scare people, but sometimes if you think there’s not a consequence, you’re more willing to do something.”
Sally Wiarda, UNK’s care team manager and wellbeing educator, works with peer health to bring awareness about alcohol safety.
Peer Health educators can be requested by any class to come and teach students about the importance of alcohol safety, bystander intervention, sexual assault awareness and more.
One event hosted by Peer Health is called “Oksoberfest” and will take place on the Thursday before Halloween. They provide information on how to either stay home and have fun without drinking or how to be safe if you choose to go out and drink.
“We do fun and educational activities, obviously because Halloween is a really high-risk time for drinking and other high-risk behaviors,” Wiarda said. “We do the ‘Know Your Pour’ activity, but we call it ‘Know Your Potion’ so (students) can pour out what a shot is. We’re just trying to make it more of a lifestyle thing. Rather than just a ‘Hey, don’t drink’, it’s how can you be safe while doing it or do less of it.”
In each residence hall, Robinson said RAs are monitoring their buildings for any safety issues, which can include alcohol violations.
“Our RAs go on rounds, and they’re never necessarily looking for anything specific, they’re just making sure that people are following the rules and that people are safe,” Robinson said. “The RAs aren’t the fun police – that’s not what they do. They just want to make sure everyone stays safe and follows the rules.”
Earlier this month, RAs hosted a variety of events to educate students on alcohol safety. Robinson said the total tally of attendees across these events was just under 700 students.
For one event, students played Mario Kart while wearing beer goggles to simulate drinking and driving. There was also a “Paint and Sip” where students drank mocktails, painted and were taught where to find resources on campus and how to be safe while going out.
While alcohol violations do get taken seriously, Robinson said the well-being of students is of greater importance.
“At the end of the day, we want to make sure students are being safe, so even if it involves a policy violation, our first priority is making sure a student is safe,” Robinson said. “If you are concerned about a friend who uses alcohol to cope with something that’s going on in their life and you are worried about them, we are going to first make sure that student’s OK – we’re not going to go in immediately with ‘You’re in trouble for violating a policy.’”
Fast said he wants students to feel comfortable reaching out to UNKPD with any concerns.
“You’ve probably seen us out walking around, out in the halls (or) sitting in parking lots talking to people, and that’s really just so that people know we’re humans,” Fast said. “We’re dads, husbands, wives, brothers and sisters just like anybody else, but we put on a uniform every day, and it’s like we’re robots. That’s not how I want our department to be.”
Fast said regardless of whether or not a policy was broken, UNKPD’s first priority is helping students.
“Police are here to help you,” Fast said. “What I want the message to be is we’re always here to help first, and do not be afraid to call us – that’s the whole purpose of us being here.”
