UMass-Amherst, community, police try to put lid on party life

By Sarah Schweitzer, Globe Staff  |  October 17, 2006

AMHERST -- Police, area residents, and university officials have begun an unprecedented effort to crack down on campus revelers at the flagship campus of the University of Massachusetts, long known for its high-flying social life.

Town police, as part of a push to increase enforcement, have arrested some 200 students since the start of school, a third more than last year. The Board of Selectmen is expected to vote later this month to give police greater latitude in controlling student partying by allowing both campus and town police to deal with off-campus and on-campus disruptions, a move that increases the number of police available to respond.

And, the university has purchased and authorized the razing of the five houses that formed a fraternity row off campus, a long-time party hot spot, while officials are pressuring remaining Greek chapters to focus more on community service and academics.

``It's long overdue that we have all come together," said Amherst Police Chief Charles Scherpa. ``Working with the university and the neighborhoods, we are trying to reeducate these kids, quickly."

The effort to stem rowdiness comes three years after a melee erupted after a Red Sox playoff game, as 1,000 UMass-Amherst students overturned cars, set fires, broke into a dining hall, and threw bottles at police. The episode and others around the same time stepped up calls for greater controls on binge-drinking and partying.

Pressure for change is also coming from high levels. Governor Mitt Romney and his newly installed chairman of the UMass Board of Trustees, Stephen P. Tocco, have called for the Amherst campus to improve its image and climb into the ranks of the nation's top 10 public universities.

Tocco said in an interview that wild partying is sullying the school's image and that a change is needed. He said he is planning to meet with students and school officials to discuss the issue and brainstorm solutions.

The increased enforcement dismays some students on the campus of 19,000 undergraduates. UMass-Amherst's rah-rah culture, which inspired the nickname ZooMass and has landed it on Princeton Review's list of the nation's biggest party schools, is considered a draw for some students, even among some who say they are intent on getting a first-rate education.

``People don't want to go to school just to party," said Justin Motta, 20, of Gloucester, the president of Delta Upsilon, a fraternity at UMass-Amherst. ``They want an education. But people do come here and know it's a party school."Some students say that overactive partying is a problem, but for only a small number of students who capture headlines and attention with raucous behavior.``The perception of UMass as Zoomass has evolved into a myth," said Elvis Mendez, 20, a junior and the student government president. Many students happily attend alcohol - free events sponsored by the university on campus, Mendez said.

Since most students are underage and cannot get into downtown bars, they frequently roam campus and its environs on Thursday and weekend nights looking for parties in neighborhoods where students live. With the closing of fraternity row, students say the partiers often end up at private residences, creating more fracases in surrounding neighborhoods.

``People are going to find a way to party," said Scott Bloomberg, a sophomore from Pittsfield. Town and school officials say they have no plans to ruin social life. They just want to rein it in.

Town selectmen say the idea to beef up policing of student behavior gained momentum after 40 residents came to a meeting in September to complain about student partying. Complaints mounted after a party in an apartment complex a short time later drew some 1,500 students and yielded dozens of arrests and spurred flashbacks to a 2002 party, which resulted in 50 arrests after students built a bonfire with furniture.

``For people in Amherst, when students gather in these large parties, the questions is: Will the students be cooperative or will they be out of control?" said Anne Awad, chairwoman of the Board of Selectmen.
Robie Hubley, another selectman and a UMass alumnus, is pushing for a committee of residents and others to assess the cost of containing the partying and to bill the state.

``We need to get money from the state to pay for the costs of dealing with what's imposed on this town by the university," Hubley said. University officials have tightened enforcement of their policies. The student code of conduct is now applied to behavior both on and off campus. Students arrested for drinking or drug related offenses attend counseling, and all students are required to take an online course in alcohol abuse prevention, officials said.

``It is our role to help students develop, to help them to understand that they need to begin to change their behavior that they bring from home," said Byron Bullock, associate vice chancellor for student affairs.

School officials say they want to expand the Greek system, which comprises just 4 percent of the student body, but not as a vehicle for partying. One idea is to create a new Greek row on campus where the houses would be owned by the university, Bullock said.
The idea appeals to school officials because they would gain greater oversight of Greek properties and could have university staff reside in the houses and direct facility maintenance. Fraternities are now located off campus and are largely beyond school control, except that members must abide by the code of student conduct.

The razing of houses on fraternity row, university officials say, is not intended to weaken the Greek system. But officials acknowledge that they are encouraging the 34 remaining Greek chapters, 12 of which have houses, to devote more time to community service and academics.

Meanwhile, some students are learning about the consequences of going too far with their partying. In one notable case, a 20-year old junior arrested at a toga party for underage drinking and disorderly conduct was ordered by a judge to wear a toga for one hour while carrying a sign of apology for insulting a female police officer, a sentence he served one morning last week outside the Amherst Police Department, the judge said.

Mishy Leiblum, the UMass-Amherst student trustee and a graduate student, said the problem lies in students' perception of the campus. Too many students, she said, assume that the best social outlets at UMass-Amherst are parties, but ignore its civic and intellectual elements.

``The way to deal with students is not to put a lid on them," she said. ``It's to find ways to engage them and make them take ownership of their education."