Updates on Campus Social Life
Dear Students,
Kim Trauceniek
Carl Steidel
As many of you know, neighbor complaints about social activity in off-campus, non-college owned housing have prompted increased scrutiny and enforcement by the Lewiston Police Department. As part of our continuing effort to keep all students informed regarding behavioral expectations on- and off- campus, we have created a webpage to answer some of the most common questions we have recently heard from students. This includes information on the role of Security and Lewiston Police both on- and off-campus and some guideposts for social life on- and off-campus. This webpage may be found here.
We will host an open meeting tomorrow, Friday, September 29 from 2-3pm in Pettengill G52 to answer any questions you may have. We also welcome your suggestions and feedback.
Over the past few weeks, we have heard a number of rumors circulating regarding the activities of Lewiston Police officers on campus and in the surrounding community. These have included rumors of officers in residence halls randomly searching students and plainclothes officers issuing summonses to students on campus. After extensive conversations with students and Lewiston Police, we can state that officers have only been on campus when requested by a student or Security to deal with a specific incident. Otherwise, they have been on public streets and sidewalks in the surrounding community and have been uniformed, not plainclothes, officers. Officers have been in both marked and unmarked vehicles. Should there be any specific concerns regarding the actions of any officer, please notify us immediately so that we can discuss and address the issue.
We are in in regular communication with Lewiston Police and other Lewiston officials as we work together to address the concerns from our neighbors and to attend to the social interests of students. In addition, we are aware all of these recent changes may require us to further re-think social life on- and off-campus.
As we work through the ongoing issues in our surrounding neighborhoods, please remember the various resources to support student-led programs and events on-campus, such as Wind Down Weekends, Late at Bates, and party registration. We truly appreciate all that you are doing to create a vibrant and fun environment on campus; it was great seeing so many of you here enjoying all of the 80s programming. We encourage you to continue taking advantage of what we have to offer. There are also a number of upcoming events that we encourage you to attend, including Club 280 and Light up the Night. We hope to see you there and we welcome hearing and supporting your programming ideas.
Best,