Georgetown Students Bristle At New Restrictions on Parties

Georgetown University is cracking down on drinking and parties in college-owned housing, with new crowd limits and registration requirements. Students are rattled, and some neighbors are angry that parties are winding up in their back yards.

In addition, the D.C. police commander for the district that includes the school said officers will be arresting students for party-related violations from now on, rather than issuing citations. The first two weeks of this school year have brought more complaints from neighbors about rowdy parties than he has ever seen, 2nd District Cmdr. Andy Solberg said.

Tonight, 15 to 20 officers will be assigned to the residential neighborhoods near campus, he said.

"This is not something we want to do," Solberg said. "I think everyone in the community wants cops out here patrolling for real criminal behavior," rather than hauling students in for public drinking or public urination.

"We would prefer that the college kids control their own actions . . . but if they can't or they won't, we'll lock them up," he said.

The school has long been known for its parties as well as its academics. But many students say the changes -- including a one-keg-per-party limit, new staff members enforcing the rules and tougher punishments -- have pushed social life off campus. Neighbors have complained as noisy parties moved to nearby Burleith and west Georgetown.

When student leaders took administrators on a late-night walk through campus last weekend, the first of the school year and usually one of the craziest, they stopped at a typical party spot and heard crickets chirping. Literally.

Just about every college in the country works to find the right mix, wanting to foster a lively, fun campus community and keep students from drinking themselves senseless. But despite decades of efforts by administrators to make campuses safer, students still get plastered.

Many schools require education and prevention programs for freshmen. And more and more campuses are going dry, said Gwendolyn Dungy of NASPA, Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Educatio n.

"The legal liabilities are so much on people's minds now, they're feeling like, 'We can't do things halfway anymore,' " she said. "It's forcing people to go to extremes."

At Georgetown, many students said they felt blindsided by the new rules. (School officials said they have included students in discussions on alcohol for about a year now.)

Parties in university-owned housing are limited to 25 or 35 people, depending on the size of the apartment, or 50 in a back yard or on a roof. One keg per party. Students have to register parties, in effect asking permission from the university by 10 a.m. Thursday to have a gathering that weekend. Two over-21 hosts have to register. And beginning Oct. 1, hosts are required to be trained in safety and liability issues.