The Student Life Committee (SLC) approved changes to the Social Event Registration Policy on April 26 that will restrict parties in wood-frame houses. Director of Student Activities and Leadership Development (SALD) Tim Shiner, with the support of Dean of Campus Programs Richard Culliton, proposed the changes.
Under the current Social Event Registration Policy, students must register social events or parties on campus with SALD if 50 or more people will attend or if there is no plan to limit attendance to fewer than 50 people. Registration must take place by the Tuesday before a party’s date, by an event host who has passed an on-line host training course. A party must also be registered if alcohol will be served, if there will be no formal program (for example, a semi-formal or benefit), if non-University students will be welcome to attend, or if admission will be charged.
Because the maximum stated occupancy of all wood-frame houses is 49 persons, under the current policy (and assuming that wood-frame residents comply with occupancy limits), events in wood-frames would not reach the 50-person registration minimum. The changes to party policy specifically target events in wood-frames at which alcohol will be served. At all such events, the minimum number of attendees that would require registration will be reduced from 50 to 25. However, the deadline for all such events will be extended from Tuesday to the Thursday before its date.
Students rarely register house parties, as doing so guarantees that Public Safety will stop by the event. Public Safety may still break up smaller parties for noise complaints or underage drinking.
The SLC, a subcommittee of the Student Affairs Committee (SAC) of the Wesleyan Student Assembly (WSA), includes seven student representatives from the WSA and seven administrators from Student Services. Some members from both groups were absent when members voted on the proposal. According to SLC member Michael Pernick ’10, the student constituent was in the minority.
“This is an administrative policy. The WSA did not come up with it or support it,” Pernick said, who was recently elected as Chair of SAC for the 2007-2008 academic year.
According to SLC student members, Shiner and Culliton’s original proposal stated that wood-frame events at which alcohol is served be registered by the preceding Tuesday, as current policy mandates, if more than 20 students would be in attendance. Students suggested changing these guidelines to Thursday and 25, respectively.
Students on the SLC expressed concern with the new policies.
“It might not lead to any real change in the way things work, but our fear is that it could be used to SJB students throwing parties in wood-frame houses,” said Matt Ball ’08, member of the WSA’s Finances and Facilities Committee (FiFaC) and president-elect of the 2007-2008 assembly. “Right now it’s perfectly legal to have a party and serve alcohol as long as there are no underage drinkers at your house. This [change] would make it illegal to have an unregistered party with alcohol with over 25 people regardless of their age.”
Details of how the University will enforce the policy and the extent of the burden that it will place on student hosts are as yet unclear.
“It is certainly an inconvenience to students,” Pernick said. “I’m not necessarily saying it’s a bad policy, but with what I know about it, I am uncomfortable with it. We don’t know how P-Safe [would enforce] the new policy, and we don’t know if this would result in an increased number of SJBs [Student Judicial Board referrals].”
Member Susanna Morrison ’07 said that it is unclear whether or not students will comply with the new regulations.
“There is no incentive to do so and there seems to be reasons why not complying might even be viewed as a better option, from a student’s perspective,” she said. “I was very much against [the proposal] on the basis that students would not comply and it would be unpopular. I also raised the issue of legal responsibility. As a student I would feel uncomfortable signing a document which stated I was the party host, as I would fear that if anything happened I would be solely responsible for it.”
At the same time, Morrison recognized the benefits of training students to be responsible hosts, as well as the University’s position on wanting to limit students’ liability.
According to Pernick, limiting students’ liability was one of Shiner and Culliton’s key arguments in favor of the changes. If a party is registered, the University will share legal responsibility in the event of alcohol poisoning or drunk driving, whereas if it is not, liability lies solely with the students who hosted the party and provided alcohol.
Administrators could not be reached for comment at the time of publication.