UC Santa Cruz is continuing its "Party Small—Gnome" campaign, which aims to decrease risk from alcohol use and promote safe drinking practices on and off campus.
New students this fall have been the audience for posters promoting awareness of the latest alcohol awareness initiative sponsored by SHOP (Student Health Outreach and Prevention), a program in the Student Health Center.
'Party Patrols' planned
Santa Cruz and UCSC Police have scheduled another round of party patrols, for Friday and Saturday nights, October 28 and 29.
As has been the case during past weekends this quarter, the focus of these patrols will be large and out-of-control parties in Westside Santa Cruz neighborhoods.
As reported in police logs, "party patrols" performed by the Santa Cruz and UCSC police from September 16 through October 15 have resulted in:
• 126 student parties visited
• 5 parties dispersed
• 32 party hosts warned and the address flagged under the city's "loud and unruly" ordinance
• 63 citations issued
• 9 arrests
Information about hosting smaller, safer parties is available at shop@ucsc.edu. Request the Red Cup Brochure.
Each year, SHOP designs new T-shirts featuring the "Party small" gnome, which helps publicize a campaign that provides education about the risks of excessive drinking, along with drinking-related accidents and crimes. This year's T-shirt design has a brand-new theme: "Gnome Your Limits." Last year's was "Gnomeland Security."
SHOP is also distributing informational brochures to Santa Cruz neighbors, UCSC residential colleges, and program offices.
SHOP also coordinates a separate, safety-related program, AlcoholEdu, a three-hour online prevention course mandated for UCSC students 24 years old and younger.
UCSC's campaign is part of the Safer CA Universities Project (SCUP) which began as a statewide research study involving fourteen UC and Cal State Universities. The main focus is "large, out-of-control student parties off campus," said Paul Willis, SHOP's alcohol and other drug educator.
Part of the community-wide safety campaign also includes increased enforcement during the first six weeks of the fall quarter in neighborhoods near campus. UCSC Police, Santa Cruz Police, and California Highway Patrol (CHP) are all involved in "party patrols" and other enforcement efforts.
For the past three academic years, UCSC has provided money to the Santa Cruz Police Department to fund voluntary overtime for officers on the weekends during the academic year for enforcement of the city's "loud and unruly noise ordinance" and to respond to large parties. Executive Vice Chancellor/Campus Provost Alison Galloway approved the campus expenditure of $25,000 for the 2011-12 academic year to continue the partnership program with the city.
