College is known to be the best years of a student’s life. It is a time to gain independence, work hard and have fun. But lately, many students have been punished for having fun. 

Ashland University students can remember walking up and down Claremont Avenue to the local bars, bouncing around to house parties on College Avenue, Grant Street and Samaritan Avenue, and ending the night back in their room safely. 

Now, students cannot walk down College Avenue on a Thursday, Friday or Saturday night without being stopped by an Ashland City police officer allegedly accusing them of being under the influence.

Officer Brian Kunzen commented on the factors that drive reasonable suspicion when a law enforcement official sees a group of students walking down the street. If students are holding open cans of beer or liquor bottles and appear to be under age, they have every right to stop and question them.

“[Also] college students carrying backpacks at 2 am does not make sense,” said Officer Kunzen. “It builds on reasonable suspicion.” 

For those students who have held gatherings in the past, they have been threatened with serious consequences by the university if another one occurs. 

Dan Piko, senior wide-receiver on AU’s football team, has lived off campus for three years and was recently threatened by the university regarding off-campus gatherings.

“After one of the parties I had early fall, I was told that if I had one more party and I got caught, I would have to move back on campus or I’d lose my scholarship,” said Piko.

The initial warning regarding football scholarships was given from head coach Lee Owens. Piko feels that it sounded like a higher-up staff member informing Owens that something had to be done.

Piko noted he has never been in trouble with the law enforcement. He has never received a citation, ticket or fine from the city police, just a warning. 

Another group of students living off campus have been targeted exceedingly by the university and the city police. 

“[Now] the police say, ‘This house doesn’t need any warnings, we just show up and write you a ticket’ because of how many times they’ve came before,” one source said. “We’ve had three or four noise complaints, two disorderly conducts, under ages and violence charges.”

“[Another time] we had 20 people over, with no music, and got a $285 fine from the Ashland police,” said another source.

Those students quit having gatherings because they grew tired of paying fines and having Sue Heimann, vice president of Student Affairs, contacting them about their behavior.

“There’s a myth that ‘Sue Heimann is on patrol,’” said Heimann. “I think that in 35 years I’ve come to an off-campus situation twice, and that was when I was called by neighbors and students at the same time.” 

Students recall seeing Heimann on College Avenue and Grant Street during the first couple weekends back at AU this year. 

 “Sue Heimann was trying to get involved and bust parties and take a bottle of liquor from a student,” said one student.

“Sue Heimann was out one night by herself trying to break-up parties and the police got involved,” said Piko. “They said they were going to put under cover [cops] on the street so there would be no parties anymore.” 

Heimann claims that she was called by neighbors, students and the police to approach the situation.

“In late August this year, I had three phone calls in a matter of five minutes,” said Heimann. “And when I arrived the police were already there.” 

Officer Kunzen noted that officers only contact the university, or Heimann, in extreme cases where students are being difficult and the house has been an ongoing problem. Otherwise, the university contacts the city police for public records and reports from weekend incidents.

Logan Slavinski, senior tight-end on the AU football team, has lived off campus for almost two years and has not felt threatened or targeted by the university. Slavinski feels his house receives little attention from the university because it is not located on Grant Street or College Avenue.

But when several athletes got in trouble and were threatened to remove scholarships from off-campus violations, Slavinski and his roommates limited the number of people over on the weekends in order to fully control the situation.

“In my early years off-campus, my roommates enjoyed having parties,” said Slavinski. “There were some weeks where we would have people over Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights. I learned a lot about students here and how to manage that many people in a confined space.” 

They have avoided citations and fines from both the city police and the university.

Slavinski and his roommates took responsibility for the amount of people that were over. If he felt that the gathering became too loud, he would ask people to leave. 

Jonathan Locust, director of student conduct and diversity, and Heimann both commented about the size of parties that resulted in off-campus disturbances. 

“Students make the mistake of thinking they can control 50-60 college students under the influence,” said Locust. “That’s very difficult for anyone.”

“How do we teach students to have only a number of people you can manage?” Heimann questioned. 

Unfortunately, those who vandalize neighbor’s property by urinating on vehicles, throwing beer cans in the lawn and sitting on strangers’ front porches have drawn attention to the city police and the university. 

“Because Ashland University is a smaller institution, everybody knows everybody, and when someone gets in trouble off-campus, everyone knows,” said Locust. “We don’t like seeing people get in trouble.”

Unfortunately, when it comes to the students’ safety, the university and law enforcement has to take action. 

“Our goal is safety,” said Officer Kunzen. “We have to make sure you don’t get in a pattern of conduct or engaging in behavior which will jeopardize the rest of your life.”

Officer Kunzen and Locust agreed that they are not present to be students’ enemies or take anyone away from having fun. 

“We want students to have fun, we want students to be safe, and make sure those students who do live off-campus can maintain a good relationship with their neighbors and the university can maintain a good relationship with the off-campus community,” said Locust.