HomeMy WebLinkAbout01-17-2017 Item 14, HalprinV fe. U
COUNCIL MEETING: i -17-174
ITEM NO.: �� JAN 17 2017
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From: "Daniel Halprin" <
Date: Mon, Jan 16, 2017 at 10.:40 PM -0800
Subject: Cal Poly Greek Life: Statement regarding Party Registration Policy and Safety Enhancement Zone
proposal
To: "E-mail Council Website" <emailcouncil slocit .or >>
To SLO City Council:
Attached is a statement from me, Daniel Halprin, the President of Cal Poly's Interfraternity Council, the
organized governing body of fraternities on campus.
Please consider the following statement. I will be giving this statement allowed at the City Council meeting
tomorrow.
Thank you for your time.
Danny Halprin
President
Cal Poly Interfraternity Council
a: 1 Grand Ave. San Luis Obispo, CA 93407
1
To SLO City Council:
My name is Daniel Halprin and I am the current President for Cal Poly San Luis Obispo's Interfraternity
Council, the governing body that encompasses all affiliated fraternal organizations on campus. This
statement is to provide my support for the pilot party registration program and support for ASI
resolution recommending that the City Council retract noise disturbances from the list of violations that
qualify for double fining under the March Safety Enhancement Zone.
In my role, I've had the unique opportunity to work with and talk to many students and student
organizations that hold social events off campus. This position has been incredibly challenging but
rewarding in that I've learned many things about the problems the San Luis Obispo community faces
when it comes to the social environment of Cal Poly, the noise and safety concerns that come about
from this environment, and the potential opportunities we have to improve the relationship between
the students and permanent community members.
This party registration program has been collaborative effort with insights from the Interfraternity
Council regarding the way our fraternities plan and host their events. I believe it contains a procedure
for properly registering social events that will ultimately lower the number of noise violations, reduce
the work load on the San Luis Obispo Police Department when dealing with the Cal Poly student related
noise violations, and empower disturbed students and community members to reasonably voice their
concerns and complaints. As you may know, this program was designed to model other party
registration programs that have been wildly successful in similar college towns like Boulder, Colorado
and I am confident that we would see similar success with the implementation of our proposed program
here in SLO.
Regarding the March Safety Enhancement Zone, the Interfraternity Council, or IFC, worked with
members of the ASI Student Government to plan and prepare the proposal to retract noise disturbances
from the list of violations that qualify for the double fines. We understand that the Safety Enhancement
Zone proposal for March was designed to lower the likelihood or amount of reckless student behavior
and to lower the probability that something like the 2015 St. Patrick's Day Roof Collapse doesn't happen
again. It is my firm belief that the adoption of this 3 week Safety Enhancement Zone and especially the
inclusion of the noise disturbances on the list of double -fined violations will in fact increase the
likelihood of an unruly gathering.
The basis of my opinion is that the roof collapse of 2015 was during a Greek -wide social probation that
prevented any Greek organizations from registering or hosting events during March of that year. The
overall impact of the lack of social opportunities during St Patricks Day created the environment where
thousands of students only had one primary option for celebrating and thus contributed to the unruly
gathering that occurred. I believe that something similar would occur if you approved this Safety
Enhancement Zone proposal since a majority of students would choose not to hold a party out of fear of
the double priced ticket, however there will be a few outliers that will be willing to hold an event despite
the risk of getting a violation. With these opportunities that will be few and far in between, they are
likely to attract a large number of students each and will probably lead to large unruly gatherings.
Last year, the Interfraternity Council cooperated with the San Luis Obispo PD by alerting them of the
several fraternity parties being held that weekend, which spread out the number of students celebrating
and over all vastly reduced the amount of disturbances caused. This should be your approach when
considering what is best for the student and community member relationship — not try to completely
control and squash all student activity, but to communicate with the student body and help coordinate
orderly and safely held events that pose much less risk and disturbance to our communities.
The promise of cooperation, collaboration and communication is far more attractive to me than the idea
of uncoordinated policy and procedure. For these reasons, I believe the approval of the pilot party
registration program and the rejection of the March Safety Enhancement proposal are in the best
interest of the SLO community and the relationship they have with the students of Cal Poly.
Daniel Halprin