House Party Buckles Under Pressure from Dean’s Office

With a subject line reading “12th and Lawrence,” resident assistants on campus opened their inboxes to this message from Area Coordinator Ryan McKinney October 3.

“RAs, spread the word.  Do NOT go to this party.  If you do it might be your last at CUA.”

Earlier in the week, students across campus received a Facebook invitation from junior Vicky Mahoney’s Facebook page to the “175th Oktoberfest” at a house on 12th and Lawrence, a half mile from campus, on Saturday, October 4.  The invitation also had an extensive list of the alcoholic beverages that were to be available, including 900 beers, a jug of Puerto Rican Lemonade, a two-story beer bong, a ski shot, a gin bucket and Jell-O shooters.

Friday morning, junior John CoFrancesco, a resident of the house, received an e-mail from Sarah Daniels, the associate Dean of Students and director of Residence Life, regarding “a very large party” that was supposed to take place on Saturday night at his house.  In the e-mail, she warned CoFrancesco that, “given the nature of the proposed event, the University would pursue a suspension of all student tenants and/or student organizers of the party.”  The Department of Public Safety and the Metropolitan Police Department had both been made aware of the event, Daniels told CoFrancesco.  She asked CoFrancesco for any other “specific information about the students or student organization that may be hosting the event.”

Around the same time, Daniels sent an e-mail to area coordinators asking them to “keep an ear out for anyone talking about the party, to perhaps identify an actual location for the party.”  She also requested that the Saturday night RAs “be put on notice, as we can anticipate that students will be returning to campus intoxicated on Saturday (perhaps more than normal).”

Later that afternoon, any student whose RSVP had been received for the Facebook event received the following message from Mahoney:

“DPS, Judicial Affairs, and certain Deans have threatened suspension against not only the students of the house, but also any student who attends.  We will reschedule at a date TBD.  We apologize for disrupting your weekend and only do this in the interest of all students. Thanks for your understanding, F*** the administration.”

Mahoney, who is not a resident of the host house, said she was the creator of the Facebook event because the residents of the house have their Facebook pages watched by the University and are not allowed to create alcohol related events. “I’m always over [at] their house hanging out and such, and of course I wanted an awesome party.”

Junior Andrew Platt, who lives in the house that was intending to host Oktoberfest, says that there were plans to serve non-alcoholic beverages and German food to fit in with the Oktoberfest theme.  He claimed the group had hired a professional bouncer to work at the door because of the unexpected crowd. Platt also emphasized while half of the roommates of the house are in ADG, a campus fraternity, the residence is not a fraternity house.

On Saturday, the night the party was scheduled to take place, Platt said that around 10:30 P.M., an unmarked DPS car pulled up and stayed for about 20 minutes.  “One of the reasons people get off-campus housing is so that they can do what they want without the RAs and DPS etc. getting involved,” said Mahoney. “If students decide to go off-campus and do something that the school doesn’t agree with, that is their own choice…we are in college!”

Platt, remarking on the administration’s intervention, said, “Truth is they were probably bluffing about suspending us.”

In response to Daniel’s e-mail, in which she expressed the University’s concern regarding the “advertisement that said there would be excessive amounts of alcohol, students would be charged at the door, and the reasonable assumption that underage students are going to be served at this event,” both Mahoney and Platt complained about the administration’s involvement in off-campus social events.  “Our retention rate is so low because CUA gives off the vibe that they continuously pursue students for normal collegiate activities,” said Platt.  “We cancelled Oktoberfest in the interest of other students because we did not want them to get in trouble.”  Mahoney agreed, saying, “The school has absolutely no place at all to threaten the boys of this house and the people attending the party because it is something off-campus.”

The approach the administration took in disbanding the party has many students questioning the authority the administration actually holds in such a situation.  Mahoney said she found it “entertaining that the administration tried to play off that they didn’t know exactly who was hosting the party.  The school obviously found out through the Facebook event, and I find it even more entertaining that I was never contacted by the school…seeing as it was [in] my name that the party was created.”  Senior Courtney Martin, a member of the Student Association’s General Assembly, said, “I would say the school had no reason to assume the boys were not carding at the door.”

The issue of the University disciplining area student homes was previously highlighted in the November 16, 2007 issue of The Tower. It noted the University “did not deal with student behavior issues that happened off-campus” until “a resident of Newton Street, Darcy Flynn, recorded ‘drunken [fights], police raids, and scores of young people noisily milling around on the streets and sidewalks,’ according to a Sept. 30, 1999 article in the Washington Times.”  At that point, “because of the embarrassment, University officials decided they needed to take disciplinary action to maintain the school’s reputation.”

Daniels offered no comment on the situation, but did refer to the Student Handbook under “Expectations for Student Off-Campus Behavior and Living,” which states:  “The University reserves the right to take appropriate action […] including pursuing disciplinary action for any violation of University policy or District or federal law off University premises by a student that affects the University’s interests and/or is inconsistent with the University’s expectations of students.”

“They don’t wake us up everyday to make sure we go to class, or ask us if we have finished our homework that’s due tomorrow, so don’t try to control what we do outside of school in social situation[s],” said Mahoney.  “Let us decide and learn for ourselves what we should and shouldn’t do.”

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