Students voice concerns over policy

Dec. 9, 2004
By Lisa M. Larranaga
Staff Writer

It's a part of college life.  Without write-ups, there would be no one to make alcohol awareness posters for Davis Hall or clean the café' after dinner.

Most students are used to the occasional security officer and residence life staff showing up at a party and getting your information, but this semester some students think they have taken it too far.

Although the official number of documentations was not disclosed, there was a big hype earlier in the semester about the extreme amount of write-ups.  Some said it was possibly double or triple the number last year at this time. 

Director of residence life Matt Hansen declined to comment.

Senior Melanie Schaecher had a clean slate until this year. 

"I went three years without any write-ups or warnings and then within the first two months of this semester I was documented," she said. 

Junior Joe Steuch was written up -- along with about 80 other people -- when his house hosted a party. 

"I was upset at the time and thought they were being a little bit harsh, but now I see that we kind of forced them to react that way,” he said. “It was a bad situation."      

At a discussion forum on Dec. 2, about 20 students voiced their complaints to dean of students Stan Kabat, director of student services Veronica Riepe, and Hansen.  No promises were made and no policies were changed, but the students and administrators covered a wide variety of topics. These included guilty by association, porch policy, parking and the check-in policy. 

As a freshman, Coutney Meyer is new to the college scene.  Although it's lived up to her expectations, she thought the way they're cracking down is ridiculous. 

“I understand to an extent, but I think they need to be more understanding of us if they expect us to be understanding towards them," she said.

Augustana College has a dry campus.  Being approximately the same size as SAU and in the same demographic, their residence life secretary said the number of incident reports they receive vary from year to year by the student body and school philosophy.  As for underclassmen, a first timer has to go through the interactive computer program, Alcohol 101, and then after the first offense they're fined.  She noted that the staff is more lenient with the upper class and a housing dismissal rarely happens, as that's a pretty "weighty measure."

When Steuch and his roommates were documented, the school swayed between a punishment of community service or asking the students to leave the campus house.  After serious discussion they decided the best punishment for them would be community service. 

"Everyone's better off this way," Steuch said. "Now we can give back to the community and SAU.  Instead of having six transfers there'll be six graduates and we're able to put SAU's name out in the community."

Steuch says he doesn't mind the enforced rules, since he knows it's for his and everyone else's safety.  As for Meyer and Schaecher, they know it's residence life and security's job to enforce campus policy. 

"I just wish that they would give us the chance to be independent," Schaecher said. "I feel like I'm being baby-sat sometimes.  They're doing a good job, but sometimes they're too serious about it.

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