More recently students at HPU are feeling smothered by the administration. Their weekend activities are being put to an end early and often. The tension seems to be rising on both ends, when will the water boil over?
THE MEETING
One week ago, November 17th there was a meeting between some HPU Greek organizations, and the some HPU administrators. The details of the meeting were kept tight. But basically the meeting's goal was to strengthen the tie between students and administration.
Many administrators spoke on keeping everything "in house", meaning that the local HPU Police would not be on campus unless HPU Security called for their assistance. If each party was known about and an S-Form was filled out, the school would know of the party. This ensures that security would not have to notify the local police. Many Greek members were very happy with this news.
Jamie Baumgarnter, a Greek affiliate and senior, at HPU stated "Coming out of that meeting we were all very excited. It seemed easy to comply with the Administrator's demands. We all had finally seemed to reach an agreement."
THE TEST
The following Saturday Night, after all the proper paper work was filled out and everything seemed to be in order. Brad Lawson, a sophomore at HPU and a Greek affiliate, stated "We could tell right off the bat that something was wrong. There were two cop cars parked outside our Greek house at 9 pm. The party had no even begun yet and already there were signs of fishy business."
Mr. Lawson’s intuition turned out to be right. Fifteen minutes into the party four police officers knocked on the door and explained that they had already received a noise complaint. "We found this very odd, never had the cops come this early. They issued us a warning and were on their way."
Not more than 30 minutes later there was another knock at the door. Yes it was the local law enforcement again and this time they made everyone leave the party or face the consequences of receiving a citation. Many of the Greek Affiliates’ believed this to be ridiculous. James Baumgarnter asks the questions, "Isn't there something else these officers of the law could be doing, rather than breaking up a college party?"
The Aftermath
Many Greek Affiliates’ came to the conclusion that the reason the cops were there so early, was because of the forms that the Administration wanted them to fill out. These particular forms notified the School of the party thus having the School notify the local police.
Recent activities at other schools might be the reasons for HPU administrations harsh actions. A few weeks ago and UNCG there was approximately 200 DUI's given out to Students driving intoxicated around campus. HPU administrators might want to eliminate any chance of this happening on our campus.
No matter the reason on why the events of November 17th happened they did indeed happen. It left both the administration and the students back where they started. A resolution needs to be made soon. Otherwise the water is destined to boil over.
Other Sources:
http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=520014
http://www.high-point.net/police/news_releases.cfm
1 comment:
Dan,
you chose a topic that will always be newsworthy for college students.
I definitely feel that the story needs more balance, which means you need to get the other side of the story. A simple call to one HPU official or administrator or HPU security representative could help you achieve such balance.
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