Partying is a natural element of campus life. But last year, students thought community advisers were writing more rooms up and incorrectly thought CAs are supposed to give a warning before writing up a room. 

CAs have never been mandated to give a warning to a room before the residents are written up according to Elyse Morris, the area coordinator for Buxton, Picken, the apartments and theme houses.

At the Hamilton apartment building meeting at the beginning of the school year, the CAs mentioned they do not have to give warnings before approaching a room, which seemed like a new policy to some students.

“We have not changed our policies, the training the CAs receive or how they approach situations,” Morris said.

According to the Simpson College Student Handbook, the alcohol policy states that alcoholic beverages may be consumed by small groups of students of legal drinking age in the wet dorms.

A group consisting of no more than two guests per resident of the room, but never totaling more than 12 people in a room is permitted. These rules do not apply to Greek life housing where 10 people can be in a room with the door open.

If a room is not obviously breaking policies, then it could be up to the CA whether or not to give a warning. If it is clear that a room is breaking policies, then a CA does not have to give the residents a warning before writing them up, Morris said.

In the apartments, the hosts of the party are the only people who are written up while in the dry buildings, everyone is written up, Morris said.

“I think they should give the residents a chance to shut everything down before fining them because college students are already on a budget and need the money and most are respectful if asked to shut down,” junior Tyler Combs said, in an email interview.

In the statement from the handbook, an “unregistered party” is mentioned, but students are unable to register a party in the apartments.

“It is not possible for a random student to register a party in the apartments, but it is possible to register one somewhere else on campus,” said Luke Behaunek, dean of students.

A student or organization can register a party by filling out the required paperwork, being able to hire outside security and checking identification to make sure only those of age are drinking, along with other items.

Fraternity and sorority formals are an example of these registered parties. Other organizations are allowed to register a party, but if there will be alcohol involved, it makes the process a bit tougher.

According to Morris, by this time last year, there had been five situations resulting in 13 people being written up for policy violations while this year there have only been three situations resulting in only three people being written up for policy violations.

“It’s everybody’s responsibility to understand policies and theoretically you are all aware of them,” Morris said.

Knowing the policies helps keep students out of trouble and from paying fines. All of Simpson’s policies are listed in the handbook on the Simpson website.