CARMAN HALL – 15 Columbia undergraduate students have been sent to the emergency room this past week for alcohol poisoning after CU Housing announced they would be searching students’ rooms for contraband.
In an email sent out to all undergraduates, Columbia announced they would be doing random searches of all residence halls to “ensure residents are not in possession of prohibited items that may jeopardize their own or others’ safety.”
“When I got the email, I panicked,” said Tommy DeMamp, SEAS ‘22. “If they found the stash of Svedka handles I’ve been keeping on my desk, I’d probably get kicked out of housing. So I said, screw it, down the hatch.”
DeMamp, along with 14 other undergraduates, was sent to Mount Sinai after being found in an unresponsive state in his Carman double.
“I get that Housing is concerned for our safety,” said Julia Carson CC ‘21, who also treated for alcohol poisoning at Mount Sinai. “But students are gonna drink whether they sanction it or not. So I decided to get my money’s worth.”
Not all of those sent to Sinai connected their actions to the upcoming search.
“Wait…what?” said Ethan Gordon SEAS ‘21 who had his stomach pumped after being found covered in his own bile in a McBain hallway. “There’s gonna be a search?”
Columbia Housing classifies alcohol as a Prohibited Item, along with:
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Hookahs
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Water Beds
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Deep Fryers
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Hoverboards
In response to the news, Associate Director of Residential Life Scott Helfrich told the Federalist: “The safety of our undergraduate students is our top concern. But if students decide to act irresponsibly and binge-drink in their dorms, it isn’t our fault that they’re lightweights.”
