Early reviews of this year's Spring Fling indicate that it was an improvement over last year's, marked by better student behavior and fewer emergency calls.
"On behalf of our office, we were really pleased with the students' behavior and want to thank the students with helping us put on such a great event," Office of Campus Life Director Joe Golia said. "Overall, the students were wonderful, which was very different than last year," Golia said. "Students entering the event were very excited, polite and respectful."
Spring Fling was last year declared a mass casualty incident after the number of individuals requiring medical treatment — mostly due to alcohol poisoning — exceeded the capacity of emergency services teams.
Dean of Student Affairs Bruce Reitman described this year's event as a return to the norm after last year's anomaly. "Just from the statistics, it was a much better day than last year," Reitman said. "I'm proud of the students."
Approximately half as many students required medical attention this year compared to last year, and the number of students needing to be transported to the hospital because of alcohol poisoning also decreased.
Emergency services treated 14 students, and nine students were taken to a hospital for further treatment, according to Tufts Emergency Medical Services (TEMS) Advisor Geoffrey Bartlett. Only seven of the nine transports were related to alcohol.
Reitman noted that the cooler weather and free breakfast made available to all students before the event may have contributed to Spring Fling's success.
Concert Board was equally pleased with the event's success and overall student behavior.
"We feel it was incredibly successful, there were less alcohol-related incidents, people had a great time, we were very happy with the turnout, and overall we thought it was a very smooth event," Concert Board Co-chair Theodore Finn, a freshman, said.
This year's Spring Fling was made a completely dry event in a March 11 decision by the Steering Committee. Although it is too early to credit the new policy with improving student behavior and reducing medical emergencies, Golia believes that the elimination of alcohol from the event facilitated its management.
"Alcohol makes the event very difficult to manage," Golia said. "For our staff, it's easier to manage a massive event without the introduction of alcohol. From our perspective, [the policy] worked and we were really happy."
Golia added that the elimination of alcohol from the event did not seem to affect student attendance. Approximately 6,000 people attended the event — roughly 4,000 students and 2,000 guests.
"Students seemed to be just as happy because numbers were right up here," Golia said.
Bartlett was unable to comment on the elimination of alcohol and its role in improving behavior. "Right now, it's clear that fewer students than last year required medical attention, but at this point I cannot analyze what factors led to the reduction," he said.
Golia believes Spring Fling will remain a dry event in the future, although he emphasized that Reitman and the Steering Committee will make the official decision.
"I don't foresee the policy changing from the policy that was enacted this year," Golia said. "OCL would support keeping [the alcohol policy] as it was this year."
It is too early to make a decision about alcohol at next year's Spring Fling, according to Reitman, who stressed that students' views will play a major role in the decision.
"I personally don't think you need alcohol to enjoy the concert, so my inclination is that if this model works, then this is what we should do," Reitman said.
In response to last year's overwhelming demand for emergency medical services, Bartlett and TEMS reviewed and adjusted their response plans in preparation for Saturday's event.
The changes included creating treatment stations with ambulances both uphill and downhill, Bartlett said. Furthermore, there were four TEMS teams stationed around the venue that responded on foot to calls.
"The idea was that if someone called for medical attention, a foot team could go into the venue and make contact with the patient, TEMS would be able to take them outside of the venue and to a treatment center, where EMS personnel were stationed and could do a more thorough evaluation," Bartlett said.
Due to the unexpected demand for emergency services last year, emergency services teams from the surrounding communities had to be deployed, according to Bartlett. This year's revised plan called for sufficient emergency services to be at the event.
"Our goal in designing our response plan was to provide enough EMS capability on campus so that we didn't need to draw upon local ambulances, and we met that goal," Bartlett said.
Concert Board also implemented a few changes to this year's Spring Fling. The stage's location was slightly shifted, and a new type of barricade was used to help with crowd control, according to Finn.
"We used more sound and lights, and it was hugely successful," Finn said. "There were no major problems, and [Spring Fling] went off without a hitch."
