Security: At Least Six St. Patrick’s Day Parties Broken Up

Source: Greta Stuckey ‘23

Two weeks into the on-campus spring semester, Director of Safety and Security John Blaisdell said that security incidents had been relatively benign: “Generally speaking, student behavior has been very good for the first two weeks of school.” 

There have been a few alcohol related incidents and one drug violation, in which a student was smoking pot in their room.

Blaisdell maintained that the primary focus of the Safety and Security office right now is “trying to keep the campus as safe as possible with COVID-19.” To do so, the Security team has distributed PPE to all departments, in addition to managing contact tracing and transporting students to COVID-19 testing using the security vans, among other responsibilities.

Although parties and gatherings are strongly discouraged, there were reports of events occurring off campus, in student houses and at the apartment complex, Fox Run. With students eager to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, there were approximately half a dozen gatherings, which Marist responded to either individually or with local police. Generally, these events had an attendance of twenty to forty students, during which there was no social distancing or masks being worn. Notably, there was one party in a residence hall on campus. Students at these events were written up with Student Conduct.

To ensure that Marist is successfully able to continue on-ground classes, Blaisdell stressed that students will need to be diligent in following the guidelines set forth by Marist and understanding why these are important to protect the pack.