Campus Safety, Deans Prepare for E/a Crowds
Students, parents, faculty and alumni from all around the world will flood Exeter’s campus this weekend as the annual fall Exeter/Andover (E/a) games unfold. The highly anticipated set of events will include an all-school pep rally and bonfire on Friday, athletic events on Saturday and the Soule Tea dance on Saturday evening. In preparation for the hectic weekend, Campus Safety and the Dean’s Office have taken several steps to ensure student well-being and create a safe campus for all.
Director of Campus Safety Services Paul Gravel explained that due to the large influx of people onto campus, E/a weekend creates some logistical problems that must be addressed. “With the exception of Graduation Weekend, E/a weekend brings with it probably the largest number of visitors to our campus at any one time during the year,” Gravel said. “Parking is always a concern, along with crowd movement control in an out of the stadium, but from a risk perspective, pedestrians crossing Court St. on both Friday night and during the events on Saturday causes us the greatest concern.”
To address these matters, the Academy has contracted six Exeter Police Department (EPD) officers and will pay additional Campus Safety officers to direct traffic flow and to assist with parking. “Having a police cruiser in the crossing areas with blue lights activated usually slows the traffic down and causes drivers to be more cautious,” Gravel said.
The Dean’s Office has also taken additional steps to ensure students’ safety even after dormitory check-in; for years, a rule has prohibited alumni from sleeping in dorms overnight and current students from staying in any dormitory that is not their own. According to Dean of Residential Life AJ Cosgrove, this is because both the Dean’s office and the dorm heads feel that sleepovers on E/a weekend are simply too difficult to regulate and not needed after a day of festivities.
“It keeps things simple for the dorm heads. It’s the one time during the year where we feel like [sleepovers are] just not necessary,” Cosgrove said. He also noted that, compared to fifteen years ago, the number of discipline cases that materialize during E/a weekend has dropped significantly, partly because of the ban on sleepovers.
Director of Athletics and Hoyt Hall faculty Shane LaPointe voiced her support for the rule, saying that “with regards to the no sleepover rule, [the deans] are just trying to help our students make better choices.”
In addition, students will be required to show a valid Lion Card in order to gain entry to the Soule Tea dance on Saturday evening. Cosgrove said that Soule Tea is strictly a “PEA event only,” and that while he understands the desire for alumni to attend, their presence simply isn’t permitted. “It would be natural for alumni to want to come and visit with friends,” he said. “However, we don’t feel like they need to be at the dance. We want to keep the dance manageable for the chaperones and the students.”
While E/a has developed a reputation filled with debauchery and mischief, both Cosgrove and Gravel refute this claim. “In the past, E/a weekends have been very safe and uneventful,” Gravel said. “Although the number of people attending will be greater than a normal event weekend, the response from Campus Safety will be the same. Unlawful activity will be addressed by the Exeter Police if need be, but we don’t anticipate too many issues that will require their intervention.”
Any illicit activity on the part of the alumni is dealt with solely by the Exeter Police Department. “We certainly know that the Exeter Police Department, in the past, has had to deal with underage alumni who stay locally and get picked up for using alcohol,” Cosgrove said. He then noted that the Academy does not get involved with the alumni who get into trouble with local law enforcement.
According to Cosgrove, instead of the usual one Dean on Duty at the Academy, all Exeter deans and many of the Andover deans are present for the E/a weekend’s events. Despite the proactive measures taken against illicit activity, Cosgrove doesn’t believe that the weekend holds much in the way of mischief. “I don’t live in fear of E/a weekend at all. I love it; it’s great fun for everybody,” Cosgrove said.
Science instructor, former Knight House dorm head and former Discipline Committee Chair Jeffrey Ward did not entirely share Cosgrove’s affection for E/a. “It just gives dorm faculty just a higher bit of anxiety because it’s a fun and celebratory atmosphere,” Ward said. “Sometimes the young alums that come back think ‘Hey, I couldn’t do certain stuff when I was at PEA but I can do it now.’”
Ward added that E/a weekend sparks a change in some of the Academy’s students. “There’s something that flicks in the brains of PEA students during the weekend of E/a,” he said. “Students that would not normally make bad choices somehow think it’s okay to make bad choices on that weekend. We, as the adults, just want to get rid of one more temptation that may be there, just to prevent any kind of issues.”
However, the no-sleepovers rule is unpopular with some students, as many wish to spend the festive weekend engaged with their friends.
Lower Aash Bhuva was one of those who disagreed with the rule. “Alumni are an important part of our community and rejecting them once they leave isn't the right way to treat them,” he said. “We should embrace our alums as they come to support us.”
Similarly, senior Nicolas Coleman said that alumni who have graduated in recent years should be able to sleep in their former dorms overnight to reconnect and reminisce. He did, however, also make some exceptions.
“I don’t think all alumni should be able to stay in dorms—I'm sure having a middle aged man sleeping in the dorm would make some people uncomfortable,” he said. “But I think it's ridiculous that someone who graduated last year can't sleep over in their dorm for E/A weekend.”