St. Michael’s has three alternatives when dealing with students who are deemed to be “intoxicated beyond control.”

Safety first

Students can be sent to the hospital, to the ACT 1 Bridge Program, a local residential and detoxification center, or to the Chittenden County Correctional Facility, said Michael Samara dean of students.

The judgment of the student’s ability to remain on campus is passed by three bodies of staff collectively: the assistant director, the resident director and Public Safety. The judgment is based on physical symptoms such as slurred speech, being physically ill, and not making sense. A breath test is also used in making the call if the student will be safe or not, Samara said.

“It comes down to whether or not the student can care for themselves,” he said.

Act 1 does not charge students for their stay, but the college will. (Photo by Kayla Sibilia)

If the student is not taken to the hospital for supervised care, they are taken to the ACT 1 Bridge Program in downtown Burlington or to the correctional center in So. Burlington. In the past, students would remain on campus. The main goal was to get them to bed. This proved insufficient when it came to the safety of intoxicated students, Samara said.

“In the mid-1980s many colleges across the country, including St. Michael’s, lost students. They died,” he said.

The greatest concern of the college when it comes to drinking in excess is safety. Alcohol is a drug that causes people to not be themselves. They don’t know their own choices, and becoming vulnerable to an unsafe situation, he said.

ACT 1 is a program that developed when Vermont decriminalized public intoxication under the Alcohol Service Act of 1978. People are screened for intoxication and incapacitation due to alcohol or drugs. Services are provided for those who are in need of a place to stay to become sober, said, Tim Moran director of the ACT 1 Bridge Program.

Pay either way

“Personally and professionally, I am fine about ACT 1 consistently,” Samara said. “It’s a good program. It’s solid with trained employees. It’s a life-saving program.”

One of the detox cots at ACT 1. (Photo by Kayla Sibilia)

ACT 1 consists of six beds. There are also cots and chairs for those intoxicated to sleep until they become sober the next morning, Moran said.

“We’re not lockdown, we’re not jail,” Moran said. “We are voluntary. We can’t hold a person against their will, but it’s a lot nicer than jail.”

The staff at ACT 1 are CPR- certified and qualified to care for those who are intoxicated. The facility is in contact with the local hospital if a person’s condition extends past intoxication, Moran said.

“ACT 1 is a safer institution than having anyone on the street passed out in a snow bank where there’s a chance they could aspirate and die,” Moran said.

Members of the public taken to ACT 1 are charged by ACT 1 however, college students don’t get charged at all, Moran said.

The only way a student gets charged from ACT 1 is if they weren’t recognized as a student and ACT 1 wasn’t informed that they are, Moran said.

“The school is going to charge you whether you wake up in ACT 1 or not,” Moran said.

It's not jail

In college, students have rough nights, said University of Vermont junior Hayley Wells, previous visitor of Act 1.

“Just because I got really drunk one night doesn’t put me on the same level of an addict or criminal,” Wells said.

Clean sheets, water, a personal bedroom and some freedom were provided in ACT 1, she said.

Qualified staff provide a safe environment to recover at the facility. (Photo by Kayla Sibilia)

“I felt completely safe, which isn’t a typical detox story,” she said.

If students are, transported to the correctional facility, detox for them is different, said one St. Michael’s junior.

“In jail, I was throwing up all over the place and one of my cellmates, begged for me to be transported to the hospital, the jail staff asked, if I was breathing,” said the woman, who asked not to be identified.

There haven’t been horror stories heard from ACT 1, Moran said.

“If anyone had a bad experience, I would like to have received a phone call,” Moran said. “We need to hear feedback to make it better, to take someone out of the situation and into a safe environment until they can make better decisions.”