The often-contested and much-debated alcohol policy is affecting more than just the students on this campus. The pressure created by the alcohol policy and the fear it has instilled in many undergraduates is forcing those who do want to risk partying on campus to go farther off-campus into the Georgetown neighborhood and Burleith.
At the monthly Alliance for Local Living meeting, held in the Leavey Center this past Tuesday, the issue of frequent noise violations has been raised by the residents of these neighboring areas.
In recent years, more and more students have migrated outside of the campus walls, and with them come the parties, noise and the frequent need for a greater Metropolitan Police Department force to intervene in order to ensure a level of peace and order.
But recently, it’s no surprise that the undergraduates are fleeing campus in search of a good time. Students are looking for safe party environments after facing harsher penalties for drinking by this university. And though there has been an increase in late-night programming, it is hardly the substitute for the free and unrestricted social interaction that college students expect when they get to college.
The events created by What’s After Dark programming in order to distract students from the usual fare of a weekend’s evening are insulting to college students, and ultimately ineffective. Though events such as a bingo night or a Saturday evening spent watching “Star Wars” movies until 1 a.m. on Sunday morning may be fun for the bored Hoya, it is distinctly reminiscent of middle-school birthday parties and fun weekends out for 90-year-old residents of St. Petersburg, Fla.
Creating events as lackluster as the one previously mentioned, or even the moderately lavish events such as “Club Lau,” is simply a waste of the money and resources of this university. Trading kegs for bingo will not in any way diminish the popularity of alcohol-fueled parties. If anything, these events create just another stop for the students between the room where they pre-game and the room in which they find themselves the next morning.
And while the programs do little to deter drinking, the expense of the programs will simply be another ineffectual venue that is largely ignored by those students who are causing the noise problems and whose behavior the programs were designed to deter in the first place.
In short, the solution is not with treating the student body like it is composed of eleven year olds.
Georgetown has yet to seriously address the dangers of students venturing off campus to party. Going to parties outside of campus walls increases the risk of a violent assault or a simple accident for those walking back home. Partying in private houses rather than, say, on the rooftops can even increase the chance of sexual assault.
Besides the noise and the complaints spreading outside of the limits of campus, there is also a greater tendency for undergraduates to go to bars and clubs in the city. If any of you follow the news stories printed in this publication, it would be obvious that walking back in this neighborhood during evening hours is hardly safe, and even if one is not mugged on the way home, the chance of a violent encounter is a permanent possibility lurking in the shadows of the neighborhood.
When Hoyas are forced to venture out on their own, they face the possibility of disastrous consequences. Without the help of friends or the ability to call GERMS, alcohol becomes a much more dangerous substance than it could be here on campus.
Even though the university administration has some control of the setting of the campus, there are still frequent robberies, muggings and violent encounters. What, then, could one say about being on a dark street in the city of Washington, D.C. itself? By enforcing the stricter alcohol policy, Georgetown simply displaces the problem, making the residents of the adjacent neighborhoods and proprietors of local entertainment establishments deal with the student body. And, of course, none of those people have any interest in the students of this campus.
As troublesome as administering and keeping order on the Hilltop must be on a Saturday night, it is still a far better option than to banish the curious and drunk to the outside world. And even though the campus is not the safest place to walk around at night, we are sure that most Hoyas would prefer to stumble to Henle Village from the rooftops rather than through the dark maze of the city.
The neighborhood is reacting, as well, by being more proactive and alerting police, stated Denise Cunningham, president of the Citizens Association of Georgetown. Pushing the students outside of campus not only alienates them from the university, but it also creates an unneeded tension between the university community and the residents of surrounding neighborhoods. Besides compromising safety, this policy undermines the public relations of the university and creates external problems where ultimately none should exist. The university could easily be a tighter community, but instead, our problems are spilling outside the gates and swept under the rug, as it were, by the administration.
Still, we cannot place all the blame on the administration, since the enforcement of the policy seems to have eased considerably from the beginning of this school year. But the policy, at least for now, is still a reality, despite numerous complaints and much protest, and we must take care to avoid the problems that it has created in the neighborhoods around us.
Since many students prefer to be outside of the threat of getting another strike with the administration, we sincerely hope that Hoyas will also use proactive and thoughtful methods to prepare for the weekends, and avoid some of the dangers generated by the tendency of parties to spill out farther and farther from the Hilltop.
Furthermore, it’s best to be good to our neighbors, as we will one day be in their position as well.
After all, if the administration will not give any serious consideration to let Hoyas party safely on campus in a realistic manner, we must forge good relationships with those around us, lest the social life of the campus, as well as the neighborhood, become as depressing as was envisioned by the students at the point of the this alcohol policy’s inception.
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