The Department of Safety and Security received 54 incident reports during Green Key weekend, between Friday, May 19 and Saturday, May 20, according to Director of Safety and Security Keiselim Montás. There were no arrests, 11 Good Samaritan calls and 12 assessments of intoxicated students by DoSS, he added. The number of incidents was consistent with last year’s concert weekend, and a marked decrease from 2019’s four arrests and 2018’s 11 arrests, according to Montás and past reporting from The Dartmouth.
“My sense is that we continue to have a safer and safer event as the years go by,” Montás said. “We learn from the previous years, and we continue to take great effort in bringing the message to students that if you are in the hospital, you are not enjoying the concert.”
Hanover Police Chief Charlie Dennis added that there were no noise complaints from the town, marking another decrease from last year, according to past reporting from The Dartmouth. Dennis said that the majority of the Green Key calls received this year were related to intoxicated students. Between 4:15 p.m. and 5:15 p.m. on May 20, there were about four calls that led to one intoxicated student being transported from the concert, according to Dennis.
“You may have some criminal violations, but a lot of it is excessive alcohol usage,” Dennis said. “But from a police perspective, it went very well this year.”
According to Montás, DoSS confiscated “a lot” of one-gallon jugs filled with water, hard alcohol and flavoring. Students often refer to these drinks as “BORGs,” an acronym for “blackout rage gallons.”
“If you sit down and drink a gallon of water in half an hour, you are going to be sick, and that’s just water,” Montás said. “Combine that with something else, and you’re not going to be okay.”
DoSS, the Hanover Police and Fire departments and the College’s Office of Emergency Management operated a “unified command center” to oversee safety during the Programming Board concert on Friday night, according to Dennis. Montás added that the College hired Green Mountain Security Services for crowd control support and help managing the different access points to the concert.
“Green Key weekend is a big event for the College, public safety and Hanover,” Dennis said. “[We] all play a role in setting up and running the big concert.”
24 Dartmouth EMS members were on shift for Green Key, 17 of whom were also licensed EMTs, according to an email statement from Dartmouth EMT. They ran shifts from 9 p.m. to 9 a.m. out of Dick’s House, and constant coverage all over campus from 9 p.m. on Wednesday night until 9 a.m. on Sunday morning.
There were six EMTs at the Programming Board concert on Friday night, an increase from three last year, the email said. While there were two crews of EMTs “doing standby” at the concert, there were also three crews on shift at any given time around campus, the email stated.
“Because of the increase, D-EMS was better able to help those who needed it in the concert and surrounding area,” the email said.
In the week leading up to the concert, students and visitors had to pick up wristbands in order to be admitted into the concert. This year, in addition to requiring wristbands, student IDs also had to be shown prior to entering the concert venue, according to a campus-wide email from the Programming Board.
The student ID requirement was announced after an individual stole admittance wristbands from the Programming Board on May 16, wrote student involvement director David Pack in an email statement. It was “not clear” whether the stolen bag was a full bag with about 100 wristbands, or if it was an already opened bag. There were also 20 wristbands anonymously returned, Pack wrote.
Programming Board executive member Callie Moody ’24 said that volunteers helped move attendees through the gates to the mainstage concert as an additional security measure. She said it “went pretty smoothly,” even though it added an “extra step” at the gates.
“I don’t think it created a massive burden in terms of lines compared to previous years,” she said.
Pack wrote in an email statement to The Dartmouth that although he was “happy with the outcome,” there were still some challenges.
“I think some of the things people may not always realize is how much goes into managing the concert,” Pack wrote. “The most challenging thing about the concert for PB is the aspects they can’t control — like crowd behavior and incidents at the concert from dangerous behaviors earlier in the day.”
Overall, Montás noted how this year’s was “definitely” an improvement from the last.
“Every year we continue to learn and adjust things and try to have a safer and more enjoyable event,” he said.
