Earlier this semester, a group of Troy residents met with Dean of Students Mark Smith to talk about a number of complaints that they received involving students. Many of their grievances involved binge drinking and late-night parties thrown by RPI students. The neighbors wanted the Administration to have a more active involvement in preventing and resolving these issues.
“The Administration had to work with us, because both of us care about the safety of students,” said Beman Park Neighborhood Association President Michele Delair. The administration has not ignored these demands and the Dean of Students Office is working on ways to make its involvement more
effective.
Large, loud, and late parties; alcohol-related safety issues; public lewdness; and destruction of property were some of the major concerns that the neighbors outlined. They felt that many of these activities compromised the peace of the neighborhood. “This is an issue that has always been there,” said Barbara Nelson, Rensselaer project manager and head of the Neighborhood Renewal Initiatives Plan. Yet, both Nelson and Delair agree that these students represent a very small minority of students who live off-campus.
One of the major cases this semester involved members of the girls’ basketball team. “They were throwing parties where 75-100 people would attend, many of them underage, and alcohol was available to them,” said Delair.
A meeting with Dean Smith, Delair, members of the team, and their coach was held. “Some of the girls did not understand the responsibility that they were claiming,” said Delair. At this point, however, the issue is resolved and the students have not been a source of any further complaints.
A more recent case happened two weeks ago, where the president of the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity was arrested for violating a noise ordinance and the house was fined.
Pi Kappa Alpha President Mike Spada refused to comment, “I have no comment, we’re doing just fine.”
“The police are more active in enforcing the law now. And that works because students now understand the consequences,” said Delair.
Both the RPI administration and the Troy police have been working to prevent future conflict and enforce ordinances. Jurisprudence issues, however, come up when the Department of Public Safety or DOSO are called upon to interfere in these cases. “We could take judicial action when it comes to fraternities and sororities, but it is not very clear cut when it comes to dealing with other students off campus,” said Smith. A revision to the Student Handbook is one of the solutions that Smith is
considering.
Delair views these issues as a new national trend. “In many colleges all over the country the central problem is binge drinking, and it has been that way for the past two years,” she said. Delair mostly relies on a Harvard study that highlighted binge drinking as a problem on college campuses.
The study also stresses the importance of alliances between the neighborhood communities and the university administration as the most successful strategy to combat binge drinking and the death and destruction that results from it. “The bottom line here is not that we are losing sleep. I love RPI students, they are great for our community, and I care about their safety and well being” said Delair.
In addition, the Beman Park neighborhood, other neighborhoods-all of them close to campus—have complained about
students.
