The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Officials: Despite warnings, college parties continue
Georgette Simso says tensions have been rising for years between property owners and Sacred Heart University students who rent homes in the Bridgeport neighborhood around Lake Forest.
One time, the college party scene even spilled into her home when she said two apparently drunken students barged into her house by mistake last year.
Simso said she pulled out her gun in self-defense, but did not fire once she realized they were
college students who entered the wrong house.
But she said the incident is emblematic of tensions — dating back at least several years — between the Lake Forest community on the city’s North End and the SHU students.
“It’s bad,” Simso said. “I’m not here all the time. But when I am here, I should be able to enjoy my backyard, enjoy my neighborhood.”
The scene hasn’t changed much, she said, even with the students facing strict penalties for off-campus parties due to the COVID-19 pandemic. SHU and Fairfield University students
face a 30-day suspension for holding a gathering of more than 12 people and expulsion if caught a second time.
However, Simso and her neighbor, Sue Lesko, said Bridgeport police have already been called twice about neighborhood college parties since SHU students returned a few weeks ago.
“Here we are in a pandemic, a lot of us are working from home,” Lesko said. “When kids start really whooping it up, on a Thursday or Friday afternoon because they aren’t in classes, now you can’t even take a call properly because it’s so loud.”
While the SHU fall semester classes begin Tuesday, some students moved into off-campus homes earlier this month.
On Aug. 20, Bridgeport police broke up a party on Lakeside Drive. Three days later, Lesko said police did not respond when they were called about a noise complaint and the apparent size of the crowd at a home on nearby Chopsey Hill Road.
Bridgeport police could not immediately provide reports about these calls, but a city spokeswoman said officials are “aware of incidents that may have been in violation of COVID safety protocols, city ordinances, and-or school policy.”
“The city Health Department, zoning, and
police will collaborate with Sacred Heart leadership to coordinate response to such incidents while providing solutions that are safe and respectful to all Bridgeport residents,” Bridgeport Communications Director Rowena White said.
Sacred Heart University Dean of Students Larry Wielk said he received a police report about the Aug. 20 party. But, according to the police report, Wielk said there were fewer than 12 people in attendance. Wielk said he did not receive any information about the apparent gathering on Aug. 23 on Chopsey Hill Road.
Wielk said SHU hires Bridgeport police officers to specifically handle issues involving off-campus houses. Those officers provide reports each Monday to Wielk, who said he reviews them and determines if students should be disciplined.
Fairfield police Lt. Antonio Granata said his department has a similar system to monitor off-campus Fairfield University parties. Going into this weekend, when most SHU and Fairfield University students were arriving back on campus, Granata said no complaints had been received.
Wielk said SHU began paroling neighborhoods where students rent houses — including the Lake Forest
community — two weeks earlier than usual to help enforce COVID-19 safety measures.
Wielk said he also contacted the students involved in the Lake Forest party to remind them of the school’s new policies, which are meant to curb the spread of the virus.
He said three SHU students have tested positive for the virus before returning to campus. All students, faculty and staff are required to provide negative test results before returning to the school.
As in-person classes are set to resume this week for the first time since the coronavirus pandemic closed Connecticut campuses in March, some schools are already coping with outbreaks.
At the University of Connecticut, an entire dorm of nearly 300 students has been quarantined after more than a dozen residents of that building tested positive for COVID-19. A total of 83 UConn students — 69 living on the Storrs campus and 14 commuters — have tested positive, according to the school’s online database.
Connecticut medical professionals have said cases will continue to rise as more students return to campus, while pointing out the importance of following COVID-19 safety measures to avoid widespread outbreaks.
However, it hasn’t deterred some students from partying.
Earlier this month, several UConn students were removed from on-campus housing as the school investigated an “unapproved gathering” that did not meet social distancing and mask-wearing guidelines, university officials said.
On Friday night, a mix of rock and country music could be heard emanating from a home a few doors down from Lesko’s daughter, Jessica Kohut.
Kohut, who has lived on Chatham Terrace in the Lake Forest neighborhood for five years, said she’s already had to ask her college neighbors twice this month to lower the music early in the afternoon.
“I want to stress that I want college kids to enjoy their college years. I think that’s wonderful,” she said. “I also would like to enjoy living in this neighborhood.”
Considering the severity of the public health crisis, Lesko said she hopes the students will show some caution.
“I’m not trying to say don’t have fun,” she said. “I want you to have fun. But think and be responsible, because being irresponsible really jeopardizes those to the left and right of you and it’s really not fair.”