NEWS
PACE Committee Meeting
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Also by Luke Schneider:
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- Concert tour regarding media convergence (November 5, 2003)
- Panel meets to discuss Halloween (October 28, 2003)
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- PACE director looks to the future (March 4, 2004)
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by Luke Schneider
Thursday, October 9, 2003
The Policy, Alternative, Community and Education committee held a meeting Wednesday night that drew 45 people to further discuss its goal of including students, landlords, law enforcement and the University of Wisconsin in making house parties safer.
“We’re really concerned about the negative consequences of parties that get out of hand,” said Susan Crowley, Director of the PACE project. “We’re very concerned about sexual assaults or physical assaults, significant property damage, and disruption to the neighborhood.”
One of the questions that the meeting addressed was the role landlords should play in reducing dangerous house parties.
“Landlords have a significant investment in their building and I think have an investment in making sure that their buildings stay undamaged, safe and secure,” Crowley stated. “What we’re really looking at is what types of suggestions landlords might have that fit into our overall goal to making sure that students know what their responsibility is around conducting a safe house party.”
Tim Wadlington, senior staff member for Steve Brown Apartments, had ideas on how to help the problems associated with house parties.
“I think the whole answer is education,” Wadlington said.
He mentioned educating tenants on how to behave and informing them on what is in their lease, so they know if they are in violation.
Wadlington also discussed educating Steve Brown’s staff so they know how to handle situations involving alcohol. Members discussed everything from pamphlets to presentations on how students can be good renters.
“I realize we can’t stop the drinking,” Wadlington stated. “We can just educate and try to do what we can to have residents be responsible.”
Many solutions were suggested as to how students can prevent dangerous house parties.
“I think the most important thing is to not operate an unlicensed tavern,” Crowley said. “Because that’s grounds for a citation.”
Crowley recommended that students know the people who come to their parties and keep their parties small and manageable within the physical environments they have.
Good communication with neighbors was discussed to prevent complaints from angry neighbors.
City Council President and District 4 alder Mike Verveer mentioned the increasing number of high-rise apartments downtown that have opened up houses for non-student residents. He said this situation could create problems between student and non-student neighbors.
“It’s unfortunate that there is this tension between the new residents that tend to be a lot older and then the student community that’s really inhabited these neighborhoods for a long, long time,” Verveer said.
Participants in the discussion, which included both Madison and UW Police and representatives from University Housing and the UW Greek System, suggested that everyone just be respectful and communicate with neighbors.
One participant suggested information regarding the student to non-student make-up of neighborhoods.
Wadlington said UW students need not worry too heavily, though, because landlords are going to take drastic measures.
“It’s not like we’re going to put extra things in the lease like no kegs,” Wadlington explained. “That’s unfair and maybe it does solve a problem, but it also creates bad vibes and bad relations.”
Landlords at the meeting discouraged a lease agreement regarding alcohol, pointing to the legal hassle of trying to include an alcohol provision or possible punishment of resident parties in their leases.
Marc Belanger (October 13, 2004 @ 4:52pm):
There is no doubt that excessive "partying" is a problem on campuses all across the country. It's best to provide resources to educate them and thus encourage them to reduce their drinking. One site, www.AlcoholScreening.org, can do that. It is linked from many university sites across the country and provides personalized feedback, a compendium is alcohol and health information, and a searchable treatment provider database.
AlcoholScreening.org has screened over 220,000 since 2001. It was created by the Boston University School of Public Health.
