When proposed, the Nuisance Gathering Ordinance was met with student outcry powerful enough to make State College officials reconsider its passing. When two similar ordinances were proposed in Bloomsburg, students barely said a word.
If passed, the State College ordinance would punish hosts of unruly parties with a minimum $300 fine and a possible 30 days in jail on the first offense. The ordinance's primary goal is to dissuade residents from disorderly gatherings by making them more accountable for their guests, officials have said. In Bloomsburg, there are two ordinances that combine to take this role.
Bloomsburg
Ordinances 856 and 857, which were implemented in 2003, are designed to minimize the risks of disorderly gatherings in Bloomsburg University's town, said Leo Sokoloski, Bloomsburg's chief of police.
"I saw no resistance or backlash," Sokoloski said. "We're great allies with greek life and students. It's not us versus them. [The ordinances] improved the quality of life for students and residents alike."
The first ordinance, 857, targets outdoor gatherings with alcohol present by making residents register the event with police beforehand. Violators of the ordinance may be sentenced to pay a maximum $600 fine or spend up to 10 days in prison, according to the statute.
Like State College's ordinance, the second piece of legislation focuses on punishing hosts of disorderly parties, as well as their guests. Penalties for hosts include a maximum fine of $1,000 or 90 days in jail, according to the statute.
Since the violations for the two ordinances consist of fines and jail time, Sokoloski said they've been efficient in accomplishing their goal.
"We've had success," he said. "All of our repeat offenses for this semester have diminished. We have not had any houses visited a second time."
Sokoloski also credited the ordinances' "multi-bond approach," which sends out three notifications of the violation. One goes to property owners and another to the Bloomsburg University Office of Residence Life. The third notification gets sent to tenants' parents, Sokoloski said.
"If three or more offenses happen during the calendar school year, property owners lose their right to rent for an entire year," Sokoloski said. "The university compels property owners to make sure it won't happen again."
And when the third notification is sent, it includes a picture that is taken during the officer's visit.
"When we send a letter to Mom and Dad, we send a picture of the house after the incident," he said. "If it looks like a lot of trash, they're going to see exactly what we're seeing."
East Lansing, Mich.
State College Borough Manager Tom Fountaine said officials also turned to East Lansing, Mich., home of Michigan State University, as a model to design a local ordinance.
East Lansing Chief of Police Tom Johnstone called his ordinance "a powerful tool" in working with students and shutting down problem parties.
"Party hosts will actually come to us and say, 'Can you help us?' " he said. "There's a heck of a lot more cooperation when parties get large."
And the numbers show results. Johnstone said when the enhanced penalties were first implemented, there were more than 2,000 noise-related service calls. Four years later in 2007, it dropped below 1,100, he said.
According to its code of ordinances, East Lansing has two sets of penalties for unlawful noise violations and social gathering violations -- standard and enhanced.
The standard set includes a "misdemeanor punishable by imprisonment for not more than 30 days or by a fine of not more than $500, or both," on first offense. For second offenses, the fine stays the same but bumps up potential jail time to 90 days.
The enhanced penalties, which were implemented in 2003 because of increasing party problems, have a harsher punishment, Johnstone said. This includes a civil infraction charge that carries a minimum $1,000 fine.
However, the host can only get the enhanced penalty if the party has two or more of the following components: 50 or more guests in attendance, a live band or DJ, an entrance fee, outdoor drinking games, a common source of alcohol, or music played by speakers directed outward or outside of the building, according to the code.
But unlike Bloomsburg, students of East Lansing put up more of a fight when the new rules were implemented, Johnstone said.
Despite this, Johnstone insists officers don't enjoy "using the big penalties."
"You see everything that gets passed and people think, 'Ah, this is just another way to attack students,' and it isn't," he said. "Officers don't live to write tickets. It's not what we're here for."
State College
Back in State College, the borough council will hold a public hearing on the proposed ordinance Nov. 2, when community members will be encouraged to voice their opinions.
After discussion among members of the council, Fountaine said the borough staff began considering different options for the ordinance, including raising the number of guests considered to be a party from three to 10.
Another consideration is a safe-harbor provision that would allow hosts to call police for assistance in shutting down their out-of-control parties without being charged under the ordinance.
Borough Council President Elizabeth Goreham said she was interested by the revisions to "see if this changes the nature of the problem" she has with the ordinance. She knows it's an unpopular piece of legislation with students.
"I misspoke last time ... in my opinion, I don't think it'll pass," Goreham said. "In my opinion, these changes might not be enough."
