During the weekend of Sept. 23, 11 UB students were arrested for incidents including a Heath Street party with more than 200 guests and a bar fight at The Steer. The charges included selling alcoholic beverages to a minor, unlawfully dealing with a minor, assault, harassment, disorderly conduct and false impersonation for claiming to be 21 years old.
Despite the constant talk of a crackdown this semester, most of the students' cases have been adjourned with contemplation of dismissal, which means if they don't get in any further trouble between their hearings and a certain date, the cases will be dismissed without penalty.
Though the punishments might seem lenient, police officials say the opportunity for dismissal is not given to everyone in a similar situation.
"A lot of people get afforded that if it's their first arrest," said Mark Antonio, police chief for the University Heights' district. "That won't be afforded to them a second time."
Antonio said flurries of arrests like those in September would be an effective deterrent to future parties getting out of hand.
"Next time they'll have to plead guilty to disorderly conduct or go to trial and risk being found guilty of the original offense," he said.
The arrests were part of a planned effort by Buffalo Police, NYS University Police, and community groups to curb larger parties in the Heights. Antonio described the crackdown as highly effective and cited the lack of incident this past Halloween weekend as proof.
"I want to give the kids a thumbs up for the past weekend," Antonio said. "There weren't any big parties. There were quiet parties. It was a good weekend."
As far as UB is concerned, the university will treat arrested students similar to how they were handled by the courts. Elizabeth Lidano, director of Judicial Affairs, said students are typically suspended temporarily until after their court hearing.
"If we don't think they're a danger, we let them back in after their hearing, but they would still be facing code of conduct charges," she said.
Though she couldn't disclose how many of the students have been dealt with, Lidano said that had their cases not been dismissed, "they could receive sanctions that might include community service hours, an alcohol and drug education class or probation."
She said that often the courts might assign community service to a student and ask the university to administer it as they see fit.
The crackdown in the Heights has come as a surprise to many students because of the perception that police are considerably more lenient when it comes to college-area parties.
"At all my friends' colleges, if a cop comes to a party they tell them to turn down the music or dump out the alcohol or maybe even tell everyone to go home. They don't arrest people," said Joshua Waight, a sophomore business administration major who was arrested that weekend for false impersonation.
For students in the Heights, weekend house parties are practically a tradition, regarded as the best way to unwind after a long week of schoolwork, or to just live the college life.
Waight said he resented the police interference.
"I mean I got arrested for saying that I was 21. Big deal," Waight said. "I study late every night at the library and don't have any fun during the weekdays so I would like to be able to go out and have fun on the weekend at a house party without having to worry about getting arrested."
The next test for the crackdown will be Thanksgiving break, another popular party weekend.
Photo: Courtesy of Matthew Messina, from the RMBERS' Instagram page
