In one of the first house party forums attended by landlords, discussions between police officers, community members and students led to suggested improvements on handling house parties Wednesday night.
Aaron Brower, UW-Madison professor and principal investigator for last year's Policy, Alternatives, Community and Education project, led the forum at the Pyle Center, 702 Langdon St. Forum participants debated the ideal roles of landlords and students in reducing the numbers of unsafe house parties.
\I guess the most clear definition ... is the parties where police get called,"" Brower said.
Landlords and property managers are often the last to know if a large party has been held on one of their properties, said Eileen Bruskewitz, a downtown property manager.
""If someone's had a big party and there's a lot of damages, they may not want us to see what's going on,"" she said.
Many landlords said they would like to hear about the parties from police sooner, and listed issuing notices to tenants and contacting parents who have co-signed the lease as possible consequences for hosts of house parties. City Council President Mike Verveer said many leases in newer buildings include clauses regarding parties.
Several students and landlords said they felt many students were relatively uneducated on the rights and responsibilities of being a tenant. One possible solution, some suggested, was for the Tenant Resource Center and residence halls to hold more teaching sessions on tenant issues.
In addition to the role of landlords, forum participants also made suggestions on the role of students in reducing unsafe house parties.
""Don't invite 500 of your closest friends over to a party on a Friday night,"" joked Madison Police Officer Kip Kellogg. He also said he tells students it is possible to party and never encounter the police, if parties remain small and students respect neighbors.
Verveer said many neighborhoods, formerly been primarily student neighborhoods, now contain a mix of student and non-student residents. Many people said they felt communication between non-student residents and student tenants would be beneficial.
Some suggested providing information about which neighborhoods were primarily student-inhabited would help students choose where to live.
""If I had roommates or someone who wanted to have parties all the time, I wouldn't want to live between families,"" UW-Madison freshman Michelle Mahoney said.
