The Office of Residential Life (ResLife) has asked College Houses not to host registered reunion events for alumni this Homecoming Weekend.
“The one thing we’ve asked Houses to do is to not host formal reunion events that would typically be run by the office of alumni relations, not students,” wrote Director of Residential Life Mary Pat McMahon in an email to the Orient.
Such events would typically be hosted by the Office of Alumni Relations, said McMahon.
“While the school year is in session, we try to separate mostly alum events—intended for graduates 10, 20, 30, 40 years out etc.—from being held [in] the spaces where students live right now,” she wrote, noting that there is no "ban" on alumni attending student parties and that students are allowed to bring guests to on campus events.
Emma Johnson ’14, former secretary of MacMillan House, said that she and her housemates threw such a party last year.
“Last year we wanted to have an alumni event, so we invited some people and it was great. It was really fun, but it turned out bigger than we wanted,” she said.
Partygoers at the event included alumni from both the College House and fraternity eras of the building.
Johnson went on to explain that part of ResLife’s concern stemmed from the event.
“We registered it without alcohol and then it got bigger than that,” she said, adding that alumni brought their own alcohol to the event.
Evan Hoyt ’15, president of Quinby, agreed with ResLife’s ban on registered alumni events at College Houses.
“It could be really awkward if Security walked in and there were students and grads, especially if the grads were over 21 and the students weren’t,” said Hoyt. “Who’s responsible? Because the people who are supplying alcohol don’t live there, and it would just be really ugly.”
Ujal Santchurn ’15, president of Baxter House, said that that the Office of Safety and Security has become particularly sensitive to issues involving underage consumption of alcohol.
“I believe the biggest concern the College has is the presence of so many alumni over the age of 21 among minors,” he wrote in an email to the Orient. “Having such a large amount of people in a concentrated place such as a college house would increase the likelihood that either security or BPD will shut it down, and, with that, comes the risk of various charges, especially furnishing alcohol to minors.”
According to Hoyt, ResLife is trying to prevent large gatherings involving alumni and students at which alcohol is likely to be present.
“I think they’re really trying to avoid what happened last year and what was going to happen this year,” he said.
Santchurn said that he thinks most College Houses will cooperate with ResLife’s decision.
“Most College Houses seem to understand Security will be on high-alert during homecoming. Furthermore, in light of recent events, there is the possibility that if a House does violate this policy, the College will act with great severity,” he wrote.
Hoyt felt that the decision may not go over well with all students and alumni.
“I think it makes sense, but a lot of people won’t be happy with it,” he said.
Editor's note: An earlier version of this article mistakenly suggested that ResLife prohibits alumni from attending parties at College Houses. McMahon stated that there is no ban preventing them from doing so, and that students are allowed to bring guests to on campus events. The online article has been updated to correct this inaccuracy.