Brendan Doherty ‘15, Staff Writer

The amount of registered parties that have taken place this semester is few in number compared to last year and year’s prior. Last year, by the third week of school there were over twenty registered parties taking place come Saturday night.

With those registered parties followed around one hundred fifty transports, alcohol violations and nefarious acts against school policy. All of these acts took place in the first semester alone last year.

So far this semester there have only been three registered parties going into the second week of October. The Merrimack party culture has resorted to conjugating outside the apartments, which those of us who have experienced a spring weekend here know this to only happen to such an extent on that particular week. So what has happened to this drastic shift in parties on Merrimack’s campus over only a few months?

A room is eligible to hold a registered party with only a few conditions. First of all a room has to have at least half its residence be of the legal drinking age. Secondly the residents of the room where the party is being held must take a safety class with student involvement on the third floor of the Sakowich Center. At this class students are taught the rules and regulations of holding a registered event. These classes are held every couple of weeks making it easy for those interested to fit it into their schedules. Lastly the room must complete and submit the registered event form before twelve noon the Friday before the event takes place.

One of the most frequent responses to holding off hosting registered parties is the difficulty to control who enters the room. There are however registered guest lists that can be filled out which will give RA’s grounds to get rid of any individuals who are unwelcome. Another typical response for students is they don’t want their room getting trashed to the extent that there are damages they have to pay for.

While these reasons are completely understandable the misconception is that those who reside in the room will have to pay for it. This isn’t the case; as long as the damage is reported 48 hours after the party it is not considered the fault of the room. This holds as a type of insurance for the residence there. There are many misconceptions that come with registered parties, the best thing for anyone eligible to do is to simply take the class and learn the truths to hosting a registered event. But until rooms take the class, there won’t be any registered parties, and with the winter months fast approaching, the days of enjoyment meeting new people and having fun out in the quad every weekend are numbered.

Upcoming registered event classes will take place in O’brien 219 on the following dates:
Wednesday October 9th – 7pm
Tuesday October 15th – 6pm