Suites big and small face prospect of proctor visits

It's 11 o'clock on a Thursday night and the setting is a large, bi-level suite in Wilson. People are socializing, refreshments are flowing and everyone is generally having a good – albeit raucous — time.

But then there's a sudden, persistent knocking on the door, followed by the infamous words, "Public Safety; open up." And, with incredible swiftness, the party is broken up by campus public safety officers. Is any gathering of students late at night safe from disruption by Public Safety?

"Well first off, we don't break up parties," Duncan Harrison, acting associate director of operations for Public Safety, said. Instead, he said, a noise complaint merely alerts the office to gatherings "disturbing the peace and rights of others."

The party is terminated, Harrison added, only if the noise level is too high or there is an alcohol violation.

With relatively small room sizes, he said, even a group of guys watching an NCAA tournament game on television has the potential to become too loud, resulting in complaints to Public Safety.

There is, however, a misconception that the number of noise complaints varies drastically between weeknights and typical party nights. In fact, Harrison said, the number of complaints is consistent throughout the week, with only a slight increase from Thursday to Saturday.

"There are no real time parameters around a noise complaint," he said, adding that even a stereo blaring music on a Saturday afternoon can be reason for complaint.

In her experience with advisees, Nicole Apollon '04, a Forbes RAA, has often come across social situations that fell under Public Safety's radar.

"I think that [the breaking up of parties] more so depends on the location and whether or not people nearby are part of the party," she said.

Rooms in closer proximity to the Street, Apollon said, tend to be disrupted more.

It also seems that neighbors are more likely to complain if they do not know about or were not invited to a party.

"It's funny that people on the Street have parties and the ones here at Forbes are broken up," Apollon said.

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She added that it disadvantages students wanting to provide social alternatives to the Street.

"I think [the disrupting of parties] happens more so than they say it does and that it happens to the same people for whatever reasons," Apollon said.

A double standard seems to exist. A small party in Spelman, Apollon said, seems more likely to be cited by Public Safety than a keg party in the junior slums. Recent gatherings at Forbes have received noise, alcohol and drug citations, she said.

Kathleen Crown, director of studies at Wilson College, said Public Safety had visited the college for similar reasons.

"Public Safety has come out and cited people for serving violations, but it's usually anonymous noise violations [that are the cause]," she said, adding that fire alarms set off by cigarettes also catch the office's attention.

Lisa Herschbach, director of studies at Mathey College, agreed with Crown's assessment.

"One message I try to convey to students is that you can never predict what will alert Public Safety," Herschbach said.

In addition to noise complaints, fire alarms and misplaced door proxes alert proctors to student gatherings.

As a member of the large, bi-level suite in Wilson nicknamed the "Kitchen Suite," Peter Forsberg '06 has considerable experience navigating the tricky waters of throwing a Public-Safety-proof gathering.

"In our suite's experience, the majority of our parties have been broken up as a result of noise complaints," he wrote in an email. "We always make an effort to warn our neighbors in the dorm and invite them to parties, but somehow the complaints continue to be called in."

Though large parties in the Kitchen Suite are occasionally broken up, most proceed uninterrupted with limited alcohol visibility and lowered noise levels.

"Undoubtedly, rooms like ours are targeted more than others. But . . . obviously we have more parties than your average kid in a double in Forbes," Forsberg added.