Vicious rumors have flown lately about off-campus housing and the gatherings that occur there. Many students have begun saying that if they host a gathering or attend a gathering, they will get expelled if they are caught. Many of these rumors may have something to do with the fact that, lately, a couple houses off-campus have had problems.

“We’ve had the police involved with two houses,” Vice President for Student Affairs Sue Heimann said. “Two students were cited for underage consumption and [we’ve had] loud complaints by neighbors.”

This isn’t the first time that problems have occurred with some off-campus houses and it won’t be the last. Students need to be aware that if they host a house party and someone from their house party gets in trouble for something, they suffer consequences as well. Hosts of gatherings face a level two offense if someone from their gathering is found to be breaking a rule or law; a level two offense includes probation and a $100 fine.

All rules can be found in the student handbook: http://www.ashland.edu/documents/pdf/2010-2011-student-handbook.

Students should also be aware that the rules may be changing.

“We are reviewing the policy,” C.J. Harkness, director of minority student services and judicial affairs, said. There is a possibility that the offense could be raised from a level two to a level one. No matter what, each offense is carefully looked at.

“For houses or instances with repeat issues or a severe one-time occurrence, you could find yourself in suspendable circumstances,” Harkness said. “Certain houses were constantly getting complaints and reports from students…if this issue remains, you put your student status in jeopardy.”

Heimann said that one of the reasons for thinking about changing the offense levels is because there have been several problems in a short amount of time recently.

“Lots of stuff happened on the same timeline,” Heimann said. “We deal with community impact, disruptions on campus or medical issues.”

However, Heimann also is happy with most of the off-campus houses and isn’t looking for problems – the problems are public record and come to her.

“This is incredibly rare,” Heimann said. “It doesn’t impact the majority of students. When there are problems, it causes angst in the community; coaches have to deal with it. No one looks for it; it comes to us with police reports.”

Craig Hadsell has a house off-campus and has his own gatherings at times.

“The stresses of a typical week in college are deserving of a night out with friends,” Hadsell said. “As an owner of an off-campus house, I have had a few pretty large parties. There are a few things to remember as a host. Like it or not, if you’re throwing a party, you’re opening yourself to a certain amount of liability. You have to have a certain capacity in mind and not exceed it, and post signs for no one under 21, just in case.”

Hadsell also said that overly sick students must go. He said he directs their friends to take them home and he makes sure that no one who shouldn’t drive does. He also said that as the “owner” of the house, he deals with neighbors directly if they complain and doesn’t let students who cause problems back in his home.

“My neighbors are not happy to find bottles and cans in their yards in the morning,” Hadsell said. “Students who do this need to realize that they are just limiting the amount of places they can go out to on weekends because it’s the host who must face angry neighbors and clean up.”

Harkness said that the main goal is to keep peace with Ashland’s community.

“At the end of the day we’re talking about quiet neighborhoods,” Harkness said. “People have expectations of having a level of peace and that people will respect their property. ‘I shouldn’t have to call you every weekend.’ I hear that from neighbors, and people with small children don’t want their children woken up or exposed to these gatherings.”

It has not been decided if the offense level will be raised or not, and house gatherings will always happen off-campus, one way or the other. Harkness knows this and said he just hopes that students will take care of themselves and others.

“The vast majority of students who live off-campus don’t have issues,” Harkness said. “When students have gatherings they just need to be aware…responsible…and respectful.”