At the end of last week, the council officially decided on new regulations for future parties on campus. According to College Council’s decision, parties hosted on campus are required to employ extra security measures. More student security monitors and a single uniformed policeman will have to be present at these events to discourage potential violence. The Campus Police has also ordered several metal detector wands, which student security monitors will use to decrease the likelihood that those entering these social gatherings will have weapons. Because of the recent financial trouble, the administration will not cover the expenses of this extra security, which will cost around $150 to $200 per event. The student groups that decide to throw these parties will be responsible for the extra expense. This cost, according to the members of the College Council, should be a negligible expense.
Another set of regulations will also be implemented to determine which College-recognized parties will be considered as “catering to the Five College community,” and therefore which will have to abide by these new security measures. A student group looking to throw a party on campus will have to send a representative to meet with Dean Hannah Fatemi, Interim Director of Student Activities, well in advance to discuss the details of the party and acquire the forms necessary for its final authorization. At this meeting, Fatemi will lay out the security arrangements she deems appropriate for the party under consideration and then the forms will be submitted. Because of the new security that will have to be arranged, this authorization will be required no later than five days before the party is to occur. After this authorization, Dean Fatemi will work with Campus Police to secure the aforementioned arrangements.
The administration as a whole is confident that these new measures will ensure greater security for the Amherst social scene. Dean of Students Ben Lieber, who also sits on the College Council, has said he is “confident that the combination of an actual uniformed officer and the actual use of metal detectors will go a long way in stopping these kind of incidents in the future.” He further added that these added security measures will not be temporary but will probably be “a permanent measure.” Chief of Police John Carter also commented, “From the point of view of the police, student security and the College Council, the impact will be positive.” He stressed that a uniformed officer present at parties will lend “an additional level of real and perceived authority to security,” and that though the “metal detectors will slow access to [the] function,” those “refusing to cooperate will be removed by the police.”
Though this plan for improved security does directly address the concerns of the security student body, the social impacts of a constant police presence at these parties remain to be seen. Student security monitors, who had been the only ones working security at these parties in the past, had restrictions which did not allow them to stop illegal activity such as underage drinking that was occurring near a party they were supervising. On the other hand, uniformed police officers, according to Carter, “are required to address circumstances of illegal alcohol consumption or drug use.” When interviewed, Lieber suggested that this will not significantly change the social practices of Amherst students. He stressed the fact that in the past, police have been notified ahead of time when parties of this magnitude are to occur and have maintained a practice of checking in regularly to limit this illegal activity. A uniformed police officer will thus not make a recognizable difference.
These regulations, though already finalized by the council, will not be fully implemented for two weeks so that the Amherst College community will have time to adjust to them. The questions of whether these new measures will have a positive effect on security and a negligible effect on the student body’s social practices will begin to be answered then. However, some students feel that these changes may not heighten security.
“If there are going to be cops everywhere, people probably won’t go to those parties as much because most of the College is underage and drinking,” said Trevor Hyde ’12. “No one wants to be caught. I don’t know if it’ll actually improve the security of the party if people just go other places.”