Public Comment

Commentary: Cal Student’s Death — An Avoidable Tragedy?

by Michelle Pellegrin, Lynn Halperin, Joe Halperin, Randy Fish, Dea Robertson-Gutierrez, Doug Buckwald, Judith McKoy
Thursday May 08, 2008 - 10:29:00 AM

Could the tragedy of Christopher Wootton’s death have been avoided if we had been more proactive with prevention and enforcement efforts in our community? Sadly, we think it’s possible that might be the case. We are a group of neighbors who have volunteered our time for over two years on the Chancellor’s Task Force on Student/Neighbor Relations working on issues of alcohol-related behavior in the Southside. 

The Southside neighborhood is the most densely-populated in Berkeley with a mix of students, working people, and families. Starting a few years back, this neighborhood became a high-energy party zone, overrun with student gatherings that lasted throughout the night. Often, there were hundreds of young people in the streets—most of them drunk, shouting at each other and into their cell phones, roving from party to party. Urinating and vomiting on lawns was common. Broken glass, bottles, and cans were left scattered all over the sidewalks, streets, and yards. Parked cars were walked over, lifted and moved onto lawns and sidewalks, or otherwise vandalized. Garbage cans, recycling containers, and newspaper boxes were regularly overturned, and trees and plants in private gardens were frequently damaged.  

It was hard to believe that these actions were perpetrated by the same respectful students who had worked so hard to get into Cal. No slouches ourselves to partying in our heyday, this was behavior like we’d never seen. Students were frequently rude, and when asked to quiet down were likely to tell us to “fuck off” and insist that “we should move, it was their territory.” As parents and neighbors, we were not only concerned about the immense impact this had on our sleep and quality of life, but also worried about the danger and health affects of these out-of-control parties on the students themselves.  

There are also significant public safety and cost issues for the rest of the city. On any given party night, up to 75 percent of Berkeley’s police force may be found on the Southside dealing with parties, taking away valuable resources from other parts of Berkeley. That means that other crimes are more likely to be committed, and less likely to be solved. 

The task force, a unique partnership of city, university, student, business, and neighborhood leaders, has made significant progress over the past two years: Cal’s Code of Student Conduct was enhanced; city laws regarding out-of-control parties were beefed up; and a Social Host Ordinance that addressed under-age drinking was passed. The university developed an online tutorial program about the effects of binge drinking and made its viewing mandatory for incoming students. UCPD created a squad dedicated to the partying problems in the Southside; UCPD and BPD applied for and got ABC grants; a web site was created; “party safe” campaigns were initiated; neighbors hosted welcome back fairs for students; and student leaders started a media campaign. 

But it is apparent to many of us that these efforts have not been adequate to address the continuing problems. Indeed, for many Southside neighbors, this year has been the worst ever for student behavior problems. While we support the efforts of the university, the city, and both UCPD and BPD, this tragedy has pointed out where preventative efforts would make a huge difference—in this case perhaps even saving a life. We suggest the following actions, many of which have been instituted successfully in other university communities: 

• Establish an Office of Off-Campus Life. Given the huge impact UC students have on their neighborhoods, it makes sense to have this office not only to educate students on expected behavior in the community but to serve as a resource for them as well. 

• Establish a community liaison position to give neighborhood residents an advocate in trying to solve neighbor-student problems that are often overlooked by the city and the university. This position should be funded jointly by the city and the university, because both entities are involved in dealing with these issues.  

• Ask UCPD and BPD for consistent enforcement of the Second Response and Social Host Ordinances. It took us a long time to develop these tools, and we need to use them. The police should educate all of their officers and start citing public nuisance behavior—not only off campus but in residence halls and Greek houses, and in the streets at night. As student leaders themselves have told members of the task force on numerous occasions, we need to tell them clearly what the expectations are regarding student behavior and then enforce them consistently. That will change behavior. 

• UCPD and BPD should develop joint procedures for handling party complaints, and make sure they work together efficiently. It is critically important that they resolve the jurisdictional issues that have sometimes limited the effective enforcement of our ordinances. 

• Give police additional resources to enforce ordinances. While this may be a little more costly initially, in the long run it will prove to be very cost-effective. 

• Cal should send letters to all students—and in particular incoming freshmen and their parents—outlining what behavior is expected of Cal students in the community and presenting information on alcohol and noise ordinances. Certainly parents want to know what is expected and have the assurance that their children are going to a safe place to study. 

• The City of Berkeley should enforce its On-site Manager Ordinance and require manager contact information to be posted in a visible location on multi-unit buildings for the use of police and neighbors. 

• Increase the funding for the Health Center at Cal to get more information out to students on the effects of binge drinking and other alcohol-related risks. 

Education is not just a formal classroom experience; it is a social one as well. We are abdicating our responsibility to our young people if we do not teach them social rules that are in place to benefit us all. 

It is enormously sad that a tragedy of this nature is necessary before it becomes obvious that business as usual is not acceptable. We send our condolences to this young man’s family and friends with the sincerest hope that our community takes responsibility so that this kind of senseless loss is not repeated.