Stumbling in the hall and speaking incoherently, a first-year laughed to himself as he went back to his room. When he arrived, clearly intoxicated, his roommate was unsure of how to handle the situation. "It was like taking care of a child," said the roommate, Justin, who declined to give his last name. "I wasn't prepared for some of the things." Many students have been faced with the situation of having a roommate come home drunk, but it can be difficult to decide how to handle it and what the potential responsibilities are.

On this night, after assessing his roommate's condition, Justin gave him some water and put his roommate to bed.

According to the Rights and Responsibilities handbook, "all members of the community share the responsibility for protecting and maintaining community health and safety," of the entire Brandeis community.

"Our first priority is to each other and to each other's safety, health and well-being," Dean of Student Life Rick Sawyer said.

If anyone's life is in danger, including situations of alcohol use, Sawyer believes students are obliged to take action because they are "supposed to be caring about each other."

Justin said that even though he and his roommate are not great friends, he thinks it is his obligation to "look out for his physical welfare and to be there to talk."

Though he is concerned about how much his roommate drinks, he feels that it is not his place to tell him that it may be too much.

"We have an understanding," Justin said, "...we help each other out. It's part of our roommate social contract." In his opinion, it is the roommate's job to look out for the other, but not to tell him when he is drinking too much.

It can be challenging to assess a roommate's state and to know if everything is under control. Kathleen Maloney, a nurse practitioner at the Brandeis Health Center, advises, "do not take on more than you can handle. If you are concerned, call BEMCo. The decision on what to do should be theirs, not yours."

According to the Health Center's Web site, BEMCo should be contacted if the person is unconscious or semiconscious, if they are breathing slowly or if their skin is cold, clammy, pale or bluish.

Sawyer believes students are concerned about being punished for reporting another student's unstable condition to a community adviser, BEMCo, or campus police. "If students see somebody they're concerned about they should not even think about the consequences in terms of themselves or that person. Pick up the phone and get them some help," he said.

If a student notices a pattern of drinking in a roommate, Sawyer recommends helping him or her get in touch with one of the many health and counseling resources on campus, including health services and, when she returns from maternity leave, the drug and alcohol counselor, Dawn Skop.

Sawyer believes Brandeis is a campus in which people are conscious of each other's health and safety. "The culture at Brandeis is for students to take action when others are in danger," he said.