Miami Beach Spring Break: Foreshadowing Social Misconduct at Universities this Fall
This isolating year of lockdowns, quarantining, and social distancing will influence human behavior for years to come. How can universities account for these changes and create a safe environment as in-person classes and social events return?
During spring break, the yearning for freedom and closeness to other people sent Miami into lockdown. So desperate were these college students for the illusion of normalcy that they sent a whole city into a state of emergency. With a tailwind of 600 new COVID cases later, locals are still reeling from their destructive wake. This isn’t new to Floridians, however. In the past 6 weeks, there have been over 1000 arrests in Miami Beach alone, nearly 40% of which were related to drug and alcohol offenses.
As a native Floridian, this was sad to watch yet entirely predictable. Miami has long been the place where people flock to relax and let go of their inhibitions. Warmth and fun act as a springtime respite from cold and isolation; COVID restrictions have magnified these feelings and experiences exponentially. What happened in Miami was an unhealthy but long overdue outlet for bottled up frustration, loneliness, and quarantining, all being unleashed at once.
The college student struggle
While it may be easy to look down on the Miami spring breakers as an irresponsible minority, the fact is that we are all struggling to balance public health recommendations and our desire for normalcy. Because the college experience relies so heavily on group gatherings (whether for lecture courses, social events, study groups, or extracurriculars), college students face the burden of isolation in unique ways.
College is an important time for social, intellectual, and character development. Today’s students have had to face this journey in the midst of navigating a new normal. Current freshmen didn’t experience their senior prom or graduation celebration. Upon starting college, many were robbed of the opportunity to celebrate their arrival, participate in student organizations in-person, attend office hours to forge in-person connections with their professors, and perhaps worst of all, make new friends the old-fashioned way. These students did not have a transitional phase into the world of living on their own, nor did they have any celebration or formal closure of their high school years.
Meanwhile, older students had their college experience cut short. Many were unable to study abroad or had to flee their study abroad mid-semester. Students at all stages of their college experience had to transition into an entirely new method of learning. Summer internships and post-college career opportunities were delayed, placed on hold, or worse. All of these experiences may, unfortunately, sound relatable and even commonplace these days, but their long term consequences on the mental health of students immersed in the journey of growing up and finding themselves cannot be underestimated.
The return to normalcy and potential problems it may cause for universities
Since vaccines are expected to be readily distributed well before the fall, universities are gearing up for a reopen. Rutgers University is leading the charge by being the first to require students to receive the vaccination before the semester begins. While this is indisputably a light at the end of the tunnel, the chaos in Miami amidst reopening and the reintroduction of partying points to a major problem that universities are bound to encounter in the fall: the Rebound Effect.
What is the Rebound Effect?
In short, the Rebound Effect is the idea that you crave something more once it is taken away from you. Once you get it back, you tend to use it more than you did before it was taken away. For instance, when you fast, skip a meal, or simply eat fewer calories than you need in a day, you tend to overeat afterwards because your body is craving what it missed. This can be readily applied to large group social gatherings like Miami Beach spring break and all the unfortunate realities that come along with them: binge drinking, indiscretion, and sexual misconduct.
Universities’ returning to their in-person, on-campus structure could catalyze the rebound effect on a massive scale as students overcompensate in social settings to make up for lost time. As campuses come together to party for the first time in over a year, the first few weeks of school will likely see a massive uptick in misbehavior.
How can universities prepare?
As of now, universities may be underprepared for the subsequent rise in overintoxication and sexual violence. It is well known that these are already major issues at every university, and the rebound effect combined with the isolation and mental health struggles caused by COVID will likely exacerbate them all the more.
Let’s not wait until the fall arrives to take action. It’s time to proactively focus on prevention to maintain students’ well-being and evade unnecessary administrative work down the line dealing with standards committees, mental health/counseling services, and PR fallout.
Launch xSoteria to help increase student safety
xSoteria is a bystander intervention platform to help increase student safety on college campuses. Here are a few features that can help universities prepare for the upcoming misconduct this fall:
Message monitors
Students on the xSoteria mobile app can anonymously reach out to event monitors to deescalate situations that make them feel uncomfortable. The private messaging tool enables event attendees to overcome common barriers to bystander intervention — such as lack of confidence, intoxication, fear of retaliation, and fear of embarrassment.
Venue capacity restrictions
As universities reopen, many will limit the size of events. xSoteria enables organizations to follow these restrictions as there is a check-in counter for each organization. To verify an invited guest, organizations can scan a student’s QR code upon entering the venue. Organizations can throw away their paper check-ins since students receive digital invitations before arriving at an event. Digital invitations can reduce large crowd gatherings outside the venue, as well as validate the identity of each invited guest.
Contact tracing
Current studies show that the most effective vaccines work 95% of the time in preventing contraction. Contact tracing will remain an important tool to prevent the spread of even a minor outbreak in cases where vaccines may not be effective. xSoteria’s Administrative Portal enables administration to look at the attendance of any event in order to help make informed decisions.
Monitor training
Monitors must complete online modules before they can sign-in as a monitor on the mobile app. These videos have been peer reviewed by experts in the field of bystander intervention like Alan Berkowitz. These online modules help assist universities scale their bystander intervention curriculum and can be customizable to each university.
Location sharing with xSo Buddies
With xSo Buddies, students can share their location with a trusted network so the network receives push notifications in real time when a student arrives at destinations at the times they expect. Imagine Find My Friends … but better.
Success at West Chester University
At West Chester University, students and administrators are coming together to prepare for the fall by adopting xSoteria this academic calendar year and by onboarding students now so that when social events are permitted, they will be ready to go.
“With students onboarded to xSoteria, we are now ready for social events to return to campus. It was surprisingly easy to get everyone on board given that we are doing this completely virtually through Zoom. Over 500 students have completed monitor training this semester. I encourage colleges around the country to start using xSoteria on campus!” Adam, IFC President
“We are extremely excited to start using xSoteria in the fall at our social events. Knowing that xSoteria will be part of our social experience, makes me and my friends feel safer.” Madison, PHC President
Let’s face it: humans are social creatures. Partying and having fun will return, as it should, but spikes in misconduct are foreseeable and preventable. If universities are proactive about student safety, the consequences of social misconduct such as sexual violence and overintoxication will be less severe. We can learn from the fallout of Miami spring break and party responsibly by aligning incentives with xSoteria.
To learn more about xSoteria, reach out to me at r.steirn@xsoteria.com.
