According to the Berkeley Beacon, Emerson students are being transported to the hospital more often than in previous years. David Haden, an associate dean and director of housing and residence life, said in the article that this is “due to the increase in the number of students living on campus.” In other words, while the raw number of medical transports may have risen, Haden implies that the percentage of students who have been taken to the hospital hasn’t.
Since I can’t find the number of students living on campus, a good proxy is the freshman class size, since freshmen are required to live on campus. While it’s true that the current freshman class is significantly larger than previous freshman classes, let’s look at the data.
Yes, according to this data, the percentage of medical transports has risen – in fact, it has almost doubled since 2009 – even though this year’s freshman class, and thus, presumably, the number of students living on campus – is much larger.
Of course, without the actual residency data, it’s impossible to get precise percentages. But the overal trend is clear: an increasing number of Emerson students need to be transported to the hospital because of alcohol poisoning.
Sources:
- Class of 2013 size: http://www2.emerson.edu/news/archives/index.cfm?action=detailNews&postingID=11368
- Class of 2014 size: http://www.emerson.edu/news-events/emerson-college-today/class-2014-comes-town
- Class of 2015 size: http://www.emerson.edu/news-events/emerson-college-today/meet-class-2015
