Police Threaten to Start Arresting Rowdy, Drunk Texas Christian University Partygoers
After weeks of complaints from angry neighbors, local police in Fort Worth, Texas, have warned Texas Christian University they will start arresting drunk students at off-campus parties who are "unruly, loud or obnoxious."
The schoo,l which is the largest of 14 colleges and universities associated with the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), received the warning in an email from Fort Worth Police Capt. Donald Hanlon, according to the Star-Telegram.
"We're going to take the approach of arresting any unruly, loud or obnoxious students who are intoxicated," said Hanlon. "The problem is that they're complying [with warnings], but they're making police have to go out and issue these warnings. We don't want them to get to that place in the first place."
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Hanlon said officers are being flooded with citizen complaints about off-campus parties attracting more than 100 students at a time in some cases.
On one weekend last month, Hanlon said all 15 patrol units in the west division were responding to party complaints near the university.
"You work your whole life to live in a nice neighborhood, and then have it overrun with college kids," complained Jean Tocco who lives near TCU. Her driveway was invaded by a small hatchback with an oversized can of Red Bull affixed to its roof last month.
Kathy Cavins-Tull, TCU's vice chancellor for student affairs, forwarded the police warning to the student body. The university also said in a statement that it is working to "coordinate with and support the efforts" of the police department.
"We try to proactively encourage students to maintain an environment at their residences that also is acceptable to their neighbors," said the statement.
The student handbook of TCU highlights an alcohol policy that restricts the use of alcohol on campus.
"Being intoxicated is a violation of the Code of Student Conduct. Any student whose behavior evidences drunkenness on the campus will be in violation of the TCU Alcohol Policy, and is subject to the sanctions of the TCU Alcohol Policy," says the handbook.
The school allows students of legal drinking age to consume alcohol in restricted areas on campus and allows the sale of tickets to events where alcohol will be served off campus, but explains that these off-campus events are not endorsed by the university.
"For off campus events, sponsored by a student organization, where alcohol is served, tickets to the event may be sold on campus only if: a) the price of the ticket does not include alcohol, and b) alcohol is sold separately at the event. The university does not prohibit such off campus events, but it should be understood that the university neither sponsors nor approves of such events," explains the handbook.
When it comes to the arrest of rowdy intoxicated students, Hanlon said while he doesn't expect his officers to make arrests in all cases he wants them to consider arrest as an option.
Since the start of the school year, Fort Worth police have arrested 22 people on or near TCU's campus for public intoxication. Last Saturday, the day the new policy went into effect, four people were arrested.
TCU police officers have also responded to 35 alcohol-related incidents since Sept. 1, which reflects an increase of 14 for the same period last year.
Some 769 disciplinary actions were also handed out in dorms for alcohol violations last year, an increase of 150 over 2013.
