Chief of Police Jay Gruber has decided to extend GUSA’s Outdoor Student Living Pilot Program, which allows students of legal age to drink beer and wine in designated areas of Henle Village and Village A.
The pilot program will continue through the spring semester, a decision based on the lack of write-ups in those permitted areas.
“We measure success by the fact that we didn’t hear anything. We didn’t see anything, we didn’t have to do anything,” Gruber said.
A comprehensive evaluation of the program, which will also take write-ups into consideration, will take place over the summer. The Department of Public Safety, Georgetown University Student Association and the Office of Residential Living will use this evaluation to make any suggestion to extend the program to other areas of campus, potentially including Village B and Nevils Hall.
When introducing the program, GUSA and the Office of Residential Living stressed that it was intended to make on-campus living more attractive, but thus far, few students appear to have utilized the option to drink near some dorms.
“I don’t think I’ve seen a group congregate in that area since the program only affects the barbeque area outside the community room, and students never really leave their immediate apartments,” said Kyla McClure (COL ’15), a resident assistant in Village A.
Adrian Prado (COL ’14), a resident assistant in Henle, said that he thought the program would be more popular in the spring, with the advent of nicer weather. However, Prado voiced doubt that RAs would be able to hold students accountable under the new program.
“We, as RAs, have a list of people in our area who are 21 and under but then it becomes inconvenientevery time we see someone out there, it’s like, do we go and ask them if they’re 21? Do we have any reason to suspect that they’re over 21?” Prado said.
Other students have also noticed a lack of participation.
“I think it’s a good idea; I just haven’t seen students act upon it,” Henle resident Julie Negussie (COL ’14) said.
GUSA Vice President Adam Ramadan (SFS ’14), who championed the program when it was introduced in September, said that while he is unsure as to whether this program fulfills the goal of making on-campus housing options more attractive, it is a step in the right direction.
“I think this is a bit of a culture shift that we’re working at, and one policy won’t necessarily make that culture shift happen,” Ramadan said. “I think, when looking at the broader scheme of things -whether it’s getting rid of the one keg limit; whether it’s getting rid of party registration; whether it’s this outdoor social program – I just think we’re making positive progress on making on-campus living just as attractive as off.”
GUSA President Nate Tisa (SFS ’14) also stands behind the program’s success.
“We’ve gotten feedback from students and from Chief Gruber and other administrators, and it’s been a huge success so far,” Tisa said. “Students were using it when the weather was nicer, and there have been no complaints from DPS or the Office of Residential Living or anyone else involved to my knowledge.”
According to Jiajia Jiang (NHS ’15), an RA in Village A, students who have been utilizing the program have behaved responsibly.
“We were really clear at the beginning of the year that it’s not a party outside – it’s just a small gathering only in specific locations, so people aren’t really going there at nighttime or anything,” she said. “If anything, people took more advantage of it when it was warmer outside with better weather and grilled in the daytime so it hasn’t really affected the RAs in any way.”