As in previous years, New Student Orientation, which began on Aug. 23 and lasted six days, spelled trouble for many students on campus.
The number of sickness transports assists and transports were 23 percent higher than last year. There was also a 61 percent increase in unruly partying.
Between August 24 to 27, there were 11 cases of students requiring sickness transport and five cases of them requiring sickness assistance. Of these cases, an equal number of males and three more females were involved this year than were involved in 2016.
According to MERT President and Engineering senior Daniel Klyde, more than one of the individuals requiring sickness transport wasn't a student, and not all of them were alcohol related.
Maureen Rush, the Vice President for Public Safety, also added that not all students who suffered from alcohol sickness were freshman and that the increased unruliness among Penn students could be due to the warm weather.
This year, 29 houses were reported to/by Penn Police as disorderly, compared to the 18 houses considered disorderly in 2016.
Comparing the start of this fall semester to that of 2016, Klyde said, “I think it was very similar in how we respond to things, and I think that we had a very similar call volume.”
He added that the statistics do not always reflect the severity of the call.
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