An open letter to Tufts University students regarding important information about the ban on the Naked Quad Run (NQR) and possible consequences for violations:
As director of Public and Environmental Safety, my primary responsibility at the university is to keep our community safe. I write to you, our students, today to do just that: to provide you with information that you can use to keep yourself and your friends out of harm's way. Also, many have asked for more detail regarding the consequences of violating the ban on the NQR.
As you know, Tufts University has ended the NQR. University President Anthony Monaco and the senior administration have recognized the dangerousness of this event and, in order to prevent serious injury or worse, support the actions of the Committee on Student Life (CSL), the Dean of Student Affairs and the Tufts University Police Department (TUPD) to enforce the ban and to impose significant sanctions on those found to be in violation.
Though I am still relatively new to Tufts, I know from talking with members of the TUPD that most of you don't need the information in this message; you are hard−working, respectful students who want to successfully and safely complete your studies and move on to accomplish great things. Still, there may be very few students who are contemplating violating the university's decision to end NQR. Since these students cannot be identified ahead of time, I must address this generally to the entire student body. The CSL policy regarding the ban on the NQR states that any student who violates the ban will face a one−semester disciplinary suspension from Tufts, which would be imposed immediately, disqualifying the student from enrollment in the spring 2012 semester. This suspension would also be noted on the student's permanent transcript.
The CSL policy gives university officials the authority to determine what will constitute nudity under the ban. In general, that determination will in most cases be made by the Dean of Students office and/or TUPD based on the definitions in the laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Public nudity is not only a violation of the ban on the NQR but also a violation of the Massachusetts General Law against indecent exposure, a crime that is defined as exposing one's genitals and/or buttocks and/or breasts in a public place where others are present and may witness the act. In addition to the one−semester suspension, violators subject themselves to possibly being charged criminally with indecent exposure, the penalties for which include up to six months in jail, fines of up to $200 and probation. Simply being arrested and charged with indecent exposure, regardless of the final verdict, results in a permanent court record of arrest.
The Dean of Students and TUPD will determine what constitutes alcohol intoxication consistent with our current policies. Generally, students will be considered intoxicated if as a result of alcohol consumption, they are incapacitated, behaving in a disorderly manner, are unconscious or otherwise in need of medical attention, or appear to be likely to cause property damage or physical injury to themselves or others.
Students who are determined to violate the ban on the NQR by being intoxicated or engaging in indecent exposure will be processed in one of two ways, depending on the conduct they exhibit. Students who are disorderly and remain so, or who become violent during or after being placed into custody, subject themselves to arrest for the charges of disorderly conduct and/or assault and battery. The penalties if one is found guilty of disorderly conduct include a fine of up to $150 and probation. Being arrested and charged with disorderly conduct results in a permanent court record of arrest whether or not there is a final guilty verdict. The penalties if one is found guilty of assault and battery include up to two−and−a−half years in jail and fines of up to $1,000.
Students who are not disorderly or violent but who are in need of services based on intoxication will be placed into protective custody, identified for further action by the Dean of Students Office in accordance with the new CSL policy, and transported to the nearest medical facility for evaluation.
Students who refuse to provide their name to the Dean of Students office and/or the TUPD subject themselves to potentially harsher disciplinary consequences. Students who give a false name to police subject themselves to arrest and possible criminal charges. The penalty for giving a false name to the police includes up to one year in jail and a fine of up to $1,000. In addition, it is likely that students charged with giving a false name to the police will be held without bail until arraignment in court.
We sincerely hope that none of these actions will be necessary. We do not want to arrest or place any student into protective custody, but we also do not want to see any students injured. The NQR endangered our students. It had to end.
I strongly urge you not to engage in activity that would result in disciplinary action or subjecting yourself to arrest in the event that you violate the law. If you know of someone considering running in violation of the ban, I urge you to counsel him or her as a peer that this action is not in his or her best interest, and to reconsider.
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Kevin Maguire is the director of Public and Environmental Safety at Tufts University.
