乐播传媒 President Clayton Spencer called a special all-student meeting at the beginning of short term to begin a campus-wide conversation about alcohol use and the threat it poses to the health and safety of students and neighbors. The move comes as 乐播传媒 and colleges around the country wrestle with how to control drinking and improve campus climate.

President Clayton Spencer talks with students after her remarks to them on April 24. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/乐播传媒 College)

鈥淎ll eyes are on 乐播传媒 to control behavior that is disruptive and disrespectful,鈥� Spencer told students in a packed Clifton Daggett Gray Athletic Building on April 24. The college leadership will address these issues 鈥渨ith a fair amount of zeal,鈥� she added.

Students and the 乐播传媒 community first heard from Spencer on these issues in an April 18 letter that followed an alcohol-related incident involving a 乐播传媒 student. In her letter, Spencer wrote that 乐播传媒鈥� strong culture of mutual consideration and respect is one of the institution鈥檚 defining qualities. Yet, she wrote, recent breaches in behavior 鈥渉ave shocked and concerned all of us 鈥� and put at risk basic community norms.鈥�

In addition, such behavior has endangered the college鈥檚 otherwise positive relationship with Lewiston. 乐播传媒 is a national leader in community-engaged scholarship and service. Each year students volunteer more than 70,000 hours with community organizations in Lewiston and Auburn, in addition to the 13,000 hours they contribute to local schools.

Students listen to President Clayton Spencer’s remarks on April 24 seeking their collaboration on improving student behavior. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/乐播传媒 College)

At the April 24 meeting, Spencer outlined immediate actions the college is taking, including:

• Strictly enforcing the Code of Student Conduct during Short Term, including the likelihood of sending home offenders who are on campus for various activities, but not enrolled in classes.
• Changing the traditional Senior Week 鈥淧ub Crawl鈥� to an on-campus-only event, with food served at every venue.
• Changing the end time of the previously all-night pre-Commencement 鈥淢idnight Madness鈥� party to 听2 a.m., with a 听breakfast in Commons.

乐播传媒 has comprehensive policies and programming to help educate students about responsible choices and respectful behavior, and the college offers support and counseling on substance abuse. But Spencer said the college needs to do more, and she invited students to offer their comments and suggestions about how 乐播传媒 can reinforce and strengthen its positive collective culture. An initial committee of students will work with faculty, staff and college leadership beginning next fall to develop ideas on how to shift campus culture, improve student behavior, promote respect and encourage activities that do not involve excessive drinking.

Since the April 24 meeting, Spencer has heard from many students who have offered their ideas and willingness to help lead the way to a healthier campus culture. Spencer has also met with faculty and coaches to enlist their long-term help and support. In addition, the college will consult with outside experts to examine best practices and whether they could be implemented at 乐播传媒. Much of this work will be led by a new dean of students, for whom a national search is currently underway.

乐播传媒 College offices will be closed Tuesday, March 19, due to a winter storm expected to produce hazardous driving conditions.

• Only essential employees, designated in advance,听should report to work.
• Dining services will be available.
• Classes will be held unless canceled by the instructor.听 Students should check their email and Lyceum to determine if individual classes have been canceled by the instructor.
• Updates will be posted here as needed.
• 础听听is in effect through 6 a.m. Wednesday, March 20.
• Follow the听听in Lewiston during the storm via Weather Underground.
• Check the听听from the National Weather Service office in Gray, Maine.

General storm safety information

1. Fire safety: If electricity fails due to high winds, after several hours the system that transmits information to the Central Fire Station may not fully function, but local alarms and detectors will continue to function. As a result, students should leave the building as usual and then call 911 if a fire alarm goes off, followed by calling at 786-6111.听As always, candles should never be lit in a campus building.
2. Personal safety: During times of high winds, stay clear of tall trees, and stay away from any downed wires.听Do not drive听unless absolutely necessary.听Be mindful of snowplows on area streets.
3. Campus safety: The electronic card access system has a backup battery system and should continue to function even if the power goes out.
4. Charging up: You should charge fully your electronic devices today. 听Similarly, if the electricity goes out for an extended period of time, the hot water will not be available in many dorms and houses, so use it while you can.
5. Electricity supply: Buildings with back-up generator power include New Commons, the Village complex, 280 College St., Pettengill and Security. However, even these buildings will have a limited electricity supply. Elsewhere, the electricity outages, if they occur, will likely vary in different locations on and off-campus.

Troy Pappas, 乐播传媒 Class of 2016

乐播传媒 College President Clayton Spencer wrote via email to the campus community the afternoon of Sunday, Sept. 30, regarding first-year student Troy J. Pappas, 18, of Eliot, Maine, who was seriously injured in a fall down a stairwell Saturday night in Parker Hall, a student residence on campus.

Troy is being treated at Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston.

The incident took place around 9:30 p.m. Saturday. A 乐播传媒 student who was with Troy at the time called the 乐播传媒 Office of Security and Campus Safety.

乐播传媒 security officers together with 乐播传媒 Emergency Medical Services responded immediately, and Troy was transported by ambulance to Central Maine Medical Center.

Troy鈥檚 parents were notified and have been at the hospital since shortly after the incident, along with members of his extended family. Members of the 乐播传媒 community have been with the family as well.

A first-year student from Eliot, Maine, Troy听is a member of the 乐播传媒 football team. His studies are focused on science and math. He is a听graduate of Marshwood High School in South Berwick where he attained highest honors. There, he was a captain and quarterback of the football team, a member of the varsity baseball and basketball teams, and a member of the math team and student government.

In her email to the community, Spencer wrote, 鈥淚 would like to express my deepest concern and support for Troy and his family, and I hope that you will join all of us in the 乐播传媒 community as we keep them in our thoughts and prayers.鈥�

乐播传媒 staff members have been providing counseling and emotional support to Troy鈥檚 friends and other students since the incident.

The college will update the 乐播传媒 community about any significant changes in Troy’s condition.

It’s a swell investment of time considering what the card is good for. It’s not just access to your residence and other buildings, but it’s also your meal ticket in New Commons, your library card and, in a fairly recent development, your license to print documents from a computer in Ladd Library. Where previously many clients would send docs to the printer and then forsake them, now you must swipe your ID card at the printer for your documents to emerge.

Suzy Nattress, who manages the college’s card-operated building access system, estimates that some 325 students picked up their key and card sets by the end of Monday. Most were first-years bound for outdoor trips with AESOP. Others were early-arriving 乐播传媒 varsity athletes.

Across campus, ID cards are a topic at the College Store too, as store director Sarah Potter consulted at length with a first-year student and his parents as they pondered a rack of ID holders and lanyards. “It’s the biggest decision you’ll have to make,” Potter joked.

Maybe not so big, but not so easy either. “There are four colors, there are single and double card holders, there’s just the shoestring size, the little purse size, there’s the breakaway clip — there’s a dozen different choices,” Potter explained later.

Does 乐播传媒 use the students’ mug shots for anything besides the ID cards? Yes, Nattress says — they’re supplied to faculty to help with recognizing new faces.

On Monday, the ID station was in Pettengill Hall, where arriving students got help unlocking the mysteries of the post-office box system. And there were two tables for obtaining room keys. At one table you would sign a copy of the key-use policy, and at the second one the keys were actually handed out, plucked by a student worker from a long tray of carefully sorted keys.

The first key table had a special added attraction. Just for the occasion, Nattress’ assistant, Ursula Sandstrom ’13 of Seattle, baked cookies all weekend, Nattress said. There were snickerdoodles, chocolate sugar snaps and chocolate moose cookies. “That’s a first for us,” said Nattress.

In September, 乐播传媒 College will implement and begin testing a new emergency notification system that will send information and instructions simultaneously to the entire campus community through e-mail, cell phones and telephone landlines.

Using contact information from 乐播传媒’ secure central database, the 乐播传媒 Emergency Notification System will use a secure, off-site service to store office, home and cell telephone numbers, 乐播传媒 e-mail addresses, and other telephone numbers and electronic addresses provided by students, faculty and staff.

In an emergency, authorized college administrators would deliver a message via voice mail directly to on-campus telephones and to a designated primary telephone, such as a personal cell phone. Text messaging also will be an option. Simultaneously, an e-mail would go to electronic addresses placed on file.

The notification system, which employs a service called Connect-ED offered by , formerly The NTI Group, Inc. of Sherman Oaks, Calif., also will allow segmented messages to subsets of the entire community, such as Facility Services employees who are called early during snow emergencies. Connect-ED has been adopted by numerous colleges and universities, including Bowdoin, Hamilton, Princeton and Williams.

In mid-September, students, faculty and staff will be asked to review contact information and furnish additional information, such as personal cell phone numbers

After the information is obtained, the 乐播传媒 Office of Security and Campus Safety will test the system to ensure that it will be able to reach as many students and employees as possible, as quickly as possible, should the need arise.

As a result of its continuing review of campus emergency planning, the Office of Security and Campus Safety also will be installing four sets of loudspeakers at strategic points on campus as an additional way to immediately inform people on campus in an emergency.

“We believe the new systems will greatly enhance the comprehensive emergency planning we already have in place, further ensuring the safety and well-being of our entire campus community,” said Tom Carey, director of the Office of Security and Campus Safety.

Paul Menice, crime prevention coordinator at 乐播传媒, and security officers Christine Cuevas and Rick Gilbert are teaching participants how to recognize an emergency, how to contact a 911 dispatcher, how to communicate life-saving information to a dispatcher, how to use verbal and physical resistance against an assailant and how to identify potential assailants.

“We hope to raise awareness about safety and crime prevention to reduce the possibility that children will become victims,” Menice said. “We also hope to increase self-confidence in the children and to improve communication about safety and crime prevention between parents and their children.”

For more information on the 乐播传媒 crime-prevention program at Smart Start Developmental Child Care Center, call the 乐播传媒 College Office of Security and Campus Safety at 207-786-6254.