Drunk students not as bad as sevens fans

‘One or two students have tarnished the reputation of the 20-odd thousand students at Victoria.’ VUWSA president Rick Zwaan

BOOZED-UP sevens fans cause more headaches for Wellington than the city’s students, the president of the Victoria University Students’ Association says.

Rick Zwaan, of VUWSA, said he understood only two students were directly involved in trashing the eighth floor of the inner-city Katharine Jermyn Hall hostel in Boulcott St earlier this month.

A few students ‘‘may be dicks’’, but they were not representative of the student population.

‘‘That is just not acceptable when people are destroying property, but again what’s happened is there’s been one or two students who have wreaked havoc, and tarnished the reputation of the 20-odd thousand students at Victoria.’’

His comments follow information released by Wellington City Council showing an innercity park and student drinking spot had more noise complaints than all the university halls of residence combined.

A report by environmental noise officer Ryan Cameron showed Katharine Jermyn Hall had four noise complaints against it so far this year, with two apiece for Boulcott Hall and Weir House. Kelburn Park, a student drinking hangout, had 11 complaints.

Zwaan said a perception of increasing booze problems was not backed up by statistics, and he claimed there had been an 80 per cent decline in students presenting to Wellington Hospital’s emergency department this year,

A few ‘‘dickhead’’ students were responsible for the problems, while thousands of others got on and studied. ‘‘What’s frustrating is that while a few people may be dicks and smash bottles and whatnot, it’s not indicative of most students are about.’’

He said there had been a generational drop in serious boozing among 18 to 24-year-olds – down 14 per cent since 2006.

The students’ association was working with the university on policy changes to help fix the problem of drinking in Kelburn Park.

‘‘But I don’t think we’re ever going to have a time, nor should we, when students are all sober – just like any other adults.’’

Heavy drinking was part of a wider problem in society, and Queens Wharf during the sevens was far worse than Kelburn Park on a Saturday night, he said.

‘‘That’s where we shouldn’t get too caught up in these one-off instances, and we should be promoting the positive parts of student culture in Wellington.’’

Ten residents of Katharine Jermyn Hall have ended up at Wellington Hospital’s emergency department this year after drinking too much.

Capital & Coast District Health Board figures record 33 alcoholrelated visits by university hostel residents to ED this year.

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