By Matt Kiernan
Police and administrators held the second of three Town and Gown Committee meetings this fall semester, in the hope of finding ways to combat underage drinking on and off campus by coming up with ideas to draw the participation of landowners and community members.
“I think the word is spreading quickly in regards to what will happen [if underage students are caught drinking alcohol],” said Sergeant Jerry Erwin of the CCSU campus police. Erwin cited that the New Britain Police Department made 154 citations and arrests from September until now around the CCSU campus, although that number may include non-students.
Erwin recalled an incident at the Campus View apartment complex on East Street in New Britain on Nov. 19, where 18 citations were given for alcohol violations and an arrest was made on a female for interfering with police by attempting to run out of the apartment. Letters were sent home to the parents of underage drinkers at the party, although they only received one response from a parent.
Planning is in motion for a location map of houses near CCSU that have had police consistently called on them, although it can be very difficult to pinpoint the “hot-spots” because the levels of partying in a particular household alternates with students moving in and out each semester, according to Erwin.
“I don’t care if you have 75 people over for a Superbowl party, as long as you keep it indoors, there’s no complaints and you don’t destroy my house,” said Jon Zipadelli, who owns Zipadelli Property Management, LLC and houses on streets that include Francis Street and Stratford Road.
Although Zipadelli says he typically finds out if his tenants have had trouble with the law by being informed by his residents or neighbors, police and campus administrators say there needs to be a system for landowners to be notified when police are called to their houses.
“We need to look at ways to apply some pressure [for landowners to become more involved],” said Timothy Corbitt, director of the counseling and wellness center.
Police talked with landowners who attended the meeting about the possibility of including a clause in rent leases that would make tenants attend alcohol information and training sessions before moving in. The sessions would include facts about binge drinking, which is four or more beers for females and five or more beers for males and safety awareness.
Safety awareness training sessions would teach residents how to use a fire extinguisher, how to act respectful toward those who don’t drink and how to check fire alarms to make sure they’re functioning properly.
A survey of 10 percent of the CCSU student population is taken by administrators every two years to see what students’ drinking habits are and their attitudes toward others drinking. The survey’s statistics are used to tell students who don’t drink but feel like everyone else does that the myth may not be true, according to Corbitt.
A major problem that’s been discussed at multiple town and gown relations meetings is the disregard by students and locals for traffic laws.
Captain Anthony Paventi of the NBPD said that 29 motor vehicle arrests were made on Eddie Glover Blvd., 10 arrests for failure to stop at a stop sign on Carlton Street and 10-20 parking tickets in and around the CCSU campus have been issued by the NBPD since the Oct. 25 town and gown meeting.
Paventi says that some of the residents who attend the town and gown meetings and complain about others breaking the law in their neighborhoods, are often the ones who are doing the violations.
The Town and Gown Committee is scheduled to hold a meeting Dec. 13 at 7 p.m. in the Student Center Bellin Gallery.
