IFC puts WaWa on probation

The Inter Fraternity Council (IFC) came to a decision last week regarding the incident that occurred at the Alpha Delta Phi (WaWa) fraternity house on Thursday, Oct. 17, when five fraternity members were arrested for common assault after they reportedly dropped water balloons on two passers-by. The decision came in the form of a consent decree, which involved social probation for the fraternity and disciplinary measures for the students involved.

Instead of holding a full hearing, IFC Judicial Board head Adam Stolz and WaWa President Mark Gengaro met and agreed on certain sanctions for the fraternity. According to IFC President Jim Eiszner, a consent decree is similar to an "out-of-court settlement;" because the fraternity members admitted to the crime, there were less formal proceedings and reduced sanctions.

According to Coordinator of Greek Life Ira Young, the IFC determined that the five students arrested were responsible for throwing the balloons. The IFC also ruled that the balloons were in fact filled with water, based on information received from the Baltimore City Police Department (BCPD), who performed laboratory tests on the balloons' liquid.

At their meeting, Gengaro and Stolz also decided upon disciplinary measures for the students involved.

"Disciplinary measures will be taken for the group [of arrested students] as a whole," said Young. "They will involve community service ... [and] will continue until the end of the semester."

Young also indicated that the entire WaWa fraternity chapter would take some of the responsibility for the incident. This will come in the form of "educational sanctions ... to educate the membership as to the responsibility they have for their actions," according to Young.

"We are talking with [WaWa members] right now about what we can do so that this won't happen again," said Young.

According to Young, the BCPD has not yet given him details regarding the criminal charges against the arrested students, as the investigation is still ongoing. But Young said that the Office of Student Life has "a really good relationship with the police," and is staying in close contact with them regarding the investigation.

Young and members of WaWa met with Northern District Community Relations Representative Douglas Gibson regarding the incident. According to Young, the meeting was "very productive."

"It gave [the police] the opportunity to ask questions, and the police fielded questions from the young men," said Young.

Gibson described the meeting as "an education seminar for the students," during which he and WaWa members discussed both the recent incident and previous incidents involving police that have occurred at the fraternity house.

"The purpose was to advise them on what they can do to avoid having negative contact with law enforcement," said Gibson.

According to Gibson, the students were "pretty humble" about the recent assault incident, but expressed concerns about "what they saw as fairly frequent [arrests]." Gibson told the students that the BCPD has "historically underreacted" to "nuisance crimes" committed by members of fraternities or students in group housing, and that pressure from the community has caused police to crack down more seriously on misdemeanor offenses.

"For every complaint we get from frat brothers [about police response], we get 20 to 30 complaints from neighbors calling about parties," said Gibson. "The general consensus from community complaints has been that college students seem to be much less respectful [in recent years]. We have made a commitment to the community to crack down on nuisance crimes related to college students."

Gibson also recognized that the WaWa fraternity might be blamed for the actions of other students because they are very "open and obvious in their activities."

"I explained to the brothers that whenever anything happens, the finger gets pointed at them ... [since] they are front and center when the cops [arrive]," said Gibson. "Their behavior causes that."

Gibson said he encouraged the fraternity members to better their relations with the community by befriending and offering help to their neighbors.

"[I told them to] go out and meet neighbors, give out a phone list ... say, 'We're here, we're part of the community, and we're willing to lend a hand,'" said Gibson. "If you treat [surrounding residents] as neighbors, they will be more tolerant."

Gibson also advised the fraternity members to conduct "soft-policing" at parties and other events, in order to prevent situations from getting out of hand.

In regards to the high level of police response at the assault incident, Gibson indicated that the fraternity might not "get an even application of law enforcement" due to variations in levels of crime in the area.

"Often, we don't have time to deal with nuisance crimes," said Gibson. "As a result, students may become complaisant [about their activities] ... you might have a minor crime when the police aren't busy, and students [are prosecuted]."

According to Gibson, conflicts between college students and area residents are not limited to the Charles Village area. He cited problems with a few of Loyola College's group homes, some of which are more embedded in neighborhoods than the fraternities in Charles Village. Since the WaWa fraternity house is bordered by mostly Hopkins property, their actions "affect a limited portion of the community," according to Gibson.

The BCPD Community Relations Department has been undertaking similar initiatives with other fraternities and group homes in the Baltimore area. Gibson held a meeting with members of Hopkins' Phi Kappa Psi in late August to discuss ways to better relationships with neighbors.

Meetings between Gibson, Young and Charles Village residents have raised the possibility of making Hopkins Security the first to respond to complaints involving students. This would function as a "warning of escalation," according to Gibson, and would free up BCPD units, possibly enhancing police presence in the area.

"We don't want to be using up resources," said Gibson.

Area residents would have to agree to call Hopkins Security rather than the BCPD, however, and a consensus to do so has not yet been reached.

Although Gibson was not familiar with the criminal charges being brought against the arrested students, he did indicate that he felt "the bulk of punishment is the night in jail." Criminal incidents have occurred with fraternities of other schools in which long court proceedings ensued, or officials forced the sale of fraternity houses for "nuisance abatement," according to Gibson.

Gibson expressed confidence in WaWa's ability to develop "direct bonds with their immediate neighbors."

"The [fraternity] institution itself and the existence of college students is definitely beneficial to the community and we're glad to have it," said Gibson.