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By PATRICK H.
DONGES
Published:
Monday, April 19, 2010
The Saratogian
SARATOGA SPRINGS — What
began as four high school students meeting after practice in
1971 to look for a rumored plot of marijuana plants grew into a
celebration now ubiquitous among cannabis consumers across the
nation as “4-20.”
At 4:20 p.m. on April 20, college students across the country
light up the illicit substance, whether rolled into cigarettes,
packed into pipes or, in at least one case, contained within a
large papier-mâché octopus.
The latter was seen near Skidmore College’s Haupt Pond last year
as some students smoked in plain sight of faculty and campus
safety officials. Outrage over reports of their behavior
prompted the school to take action and hold a series of meetings
with officials from the Saratoga Springs Police Department, the
Saratoga Springs City School District, the Saratoga County
Alcohol and Substance Abuse Prevention Council and Saratoga
County District Attorney James A. Murphy III.
“The meetings have been a good way to recommit our efforts,”
Murphy said last week.
Skidmore, ranked second last year on The Princeton Review’s
“reefer madness” list, isn’t the only campus to garner attention
for the illegal spring exhibition. In 2009, the school joined
the University of California at Santa Cruz, Bard College, the
University of Vermont and the University of Colorado at Boulder
in a list of the top five institutions perceived as being the
most pot-predominant.
There is no specific criterion that addresses public cannabis
consumption on April 20, and the “reefer madness” schools have
had varying experiences with the event.
“That’s a rather spurious review,” an unidentified Bard College
public relations employee said of the ranking. She said she
wasn’t sure the school had an official stance on the event and
referred comment to an official who was unavailable for comment
by press time. Bard topped the “reefer madness” list in 2008.
“(Institutions) tend to endorse our rankings as very accurate if
they view something as a positive,” said Seamus Mullarkey,
senior editor of Princeton Review’s “Best 371 Colleges.” “They
tend to question the validity if they view something as a
negative.”
Most of the data used for the rankings come from an online
survey where participants must register with a valid school
e-mail address before submitting answers. The ranking is based
on how students answer the survey question, “How widely is
marijuana used at your school?”
“Student gatherings at the University of Vermont on April 20
have gotten smaller and smaller over the last decade, and in the
last several years there has been no activity at all,” said
Thomas Gustafson, the college’s vice president for student and
campus life. “We are dubious of the results,” he said of their
Princeton Review rank.
“It’s a bunch of people walking around smoking pot and
high-fiving each other,” said University of Colorado at Boulder
media relations director Bronson Hilliard. An alumnus of the
school, Hilliard said the reputation of Boulder as a vacation
spot, combined with Internet publicity, has turned the display
into an occasion dreaded by faculty and students alike.
A state university of 30,000 students, the school has seen
attendance at their “4-20” display grow from a few hundred
participants five years ago to around 10,000 last year.
Cameron Naish, a University of Colorado senior and managing
editor of the school’s student newspaper, said that while he
didn’t think the event was a hazard, when the clock hits 4:20
p.m., those passing by do experience psychoactive effects due to
second-hand smoke. “If I was worried about passing a drug test,
it would make me nervous,” he said.
Hilliard expressed frustration over the lack of media attention
two years ago when the school received an award from the White
House for being among those schools with outstanding records of
community service. “Absolutely,” he said when asked if the event
negatively affects the reputation of the school.
“We’ve tried a number of different strategies to disperse the
crowd, but none of them were effective and some were even
counterproductive,” he said of measures that included taking
photos of the crowd and turning sprinklers on during the event.
For the past three years, the university has sent out a
campus-wide e-mail notifying students that the display is
unsanctioned and unlawful, but must be tolerated to maintain
order among the crowd.
“Skidmore students are role models, and whether they accept it
or not, they need to understand that,” Skidmore College’s Dean
of Student Affairs Rochelle Calhoun said Thursday. On Friday,
Calhoun sent an e-mail to students outlining state law, school
policy and the consequences students will face if they are
caught possessing the drug on April 20. As a new policy measure,
tents and other enclosures are prohibited for use that day.
“As long as the law of the land in New York state is what it is
and our policies are what they are, we need to uphold them,” she
said. “I don’t see a middle ground.”
“Activities that we believe constitute a crime as defined by the
New York State Penal Code will be referred to the Saratoga
Springs Police Department,” Calhoun wrote in her message to
students.
“Alcohol creates behaviors that ultimately have been more
destructive in terms of the community effects,” Calhoun said of
the school’s substance abuse enforcement priorities, but she was
clear that a holistic prevention approach was necessary to
creating a safe environment.
District Attorney Murphy said campus safety officials often call
Saratoga Springs police to make arrests, and that substance
abuse counseling is mandatory as a condition for the dismissal
of a first-time unlawful possession of marijuana violation.
“High school students are looking to college students as role
models,” said Judy Ekman, executive director of the Alcohol and
Substance Abuse Prevention Council. She went on to praise those
Skidmore students who take the time to volunteer for her
organization and other groups with which the school has
established records of service by students.
“In real terms, at 4:20 in the afternoon, they’re in class,” she
said of the majority of students. “People tend to generalize on
the negative and not generalize on the positive.”
Skidmore’s campus safety non-emergency line can be reached at
580-5567.
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