Five weekends into the fall semester, the plan to compliment student party monitors with professionals has not come to fruition, and administrators now say it may not happen at all.
Student Affairs officials had been planning to hire an outside company to provide monitoring professionals, who would have worked with students to enforce fire code capacities, the drinking alternative requirement and other safety measures.
Administrators have since decided, however, that the company they had been hoping to use--Show Pros Event Services of Chapel Hill--cannot provide adequate staffing.
"The last that we have heard from them is that they are not going to be able to provide monitors. I think the number of events was just too large," said Sue Wasiolek, assistant vice president for student affairs. "I was disappointed, but I certainly understood the basis for their decision."
The monitoring plan developed out of recommendations made last year by the Alcohol Policy Review Committee. A living group must designate at least one student monitor for every 25 event attendees.
Party Pros was the only company in the area that could have provided professional monitors for student events, Wasiolek said. She said she will meet with other administrators to discuss more options and will consult students if the University decides to significantly alter the plan.
Wasiolek did not rule out scrapping the program altogether but said the administration is considering hiring graduate students or professors. "If we still feel we need to staff at that level, we will look at other options. I think that's something we really want to look at and think about," Wasiolek said.
The exact responsibilities of additional party monitors will not be determined until they are chosen. "I think the solution is going to very much dictate the role these folks will have," Wasiolek said.
Many student party monitors said the program has worked well so far.
Matt Bossler, who monitored a Beta Theta Pi fraternity party this weekend, said the experience was helpful to students. He said his main responsibilities--monitoring section doors, collecting glass and taking care of sick students--did not require additional oversight.
"I think [professional monitors] would definitely put an unnecessary damper on our parties. If we had a couple security people sneaking around, it would add a bit of stress to a weekend party," he said. "On the whole, I didn't really mind being a party monitor."
Wasiolek agreed that so far, the student monitoring has worked well. She said she has received mostly positive feedback, except for some students' complaints that parties did not have enough alternative drinks and food available. The bright orange shirts for student monitors has helped improve their visibility, she added.
"I do expect to take more time to see how things are going," Wasiolek said.
The biggest problem for party monitors has been that many students, particularly freshmen, are not informed of the role of the monitors, said Duke Student Government President C.J. Walsh, who monitored a Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity party earlier this year. He said the presence of deans on campus helped students become accustomed to the monitoring system, but more could be done to explain it.
"[Monitoring] was rather difficult due to the shear numbers involved. It's hard to tell so many first-year students they can't come into the building," Walsh said.
He added that professional monitors are not necessarily needed, and that most student monitors seem to be taking the job seriously.
Eventually, students will become more aware of how the system works, Walsh said. "We'll probably have to look at it toward the end of semester and see how it's working."
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