Suite residents, including those in Haskell Hall, Wren Hall and Latin Way, were notified by their residence directors in mid-September that social gatherings of 15 students or more should be registered and approved by the Office of Residential Life and Learning (ORLL).
This registration process is the same that residents in wood frame houses, including fraternity and sorority houses, are required to fill out according to Director of Fraternity and Sorority Life Su McGlone.
“This year we are in the process of revising the overall social event registration process, so nothing has changed at this point, but this year we are treating it the same as other events. So, it’s not mandatory,” McGlone said.
After moving to the ORLL, McGlone said she received questions from students living in suites about registration, and some students chose to register their suite events last year and at the beginning of this year. To reduce confusion for students, the ORLL decided to send an email to all suite residents to inform them of the resources available to them through their office.
“There’s no mandatory piece of this, but the general rule is that if you are worried about your event causing a disturbance to others, or if you think it's going to be some type of celebration, then you should look into talking to us about it,” Timothy Jordan, assistant director of residential education, said.
The goal of registration is not to restrict students but to inform them about the resources available to them so that they are able to host gatherings in a safe matter, according to McGlone.
After registering the event through ORLL, students will be able to set up a meeting with anyone in the office to discuss policies regarding alcohol at the event, safety concerns including fire codes and ways to make sure that all suite members are on board with the event taking place, according to McGlone.
“One of the tips we always recommend is having some sort of code, song or light flicker if you want to end the party,” McGlone said.
All of the tips and policies given to the students come from feedback that ORLL has gotten from students in the past and what has worked best for them.
“The more we are all on the same page ... the better,” Jordan explained.
According to Jordan, ORLL is working on a new policy that will be more specific to suites and dorm rooms to reflect the policies that apply to wood frame houses. However, this policy has not been announced and no time frame has been given for when new policies would take effect.
Students met the email with confusion.
“I saw the email and was a little surprised because they hadn’t really told us anything similar at the beginning of the year, and it felt as if it was coming out almost as a response to something,” Aiden Herrod, a Wren resident, said.
Herrod, a sophomore, said he believed the email had affected the social scene in Wren's suites.
“Ultimately, I think that we were all a bit surprised when the email came out of the blue. There’s still a general sense of hesitance where people aren't rushing to register social events because they see it as a way to keep large amounts of people out of suites.” Herrod said.
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