LTE: Calling On Fairfield U. To Proactively Manage Large Beach Parties

The following open Letter to the Editor is from the Fairfield Beach Residents Association:

Dear Fairfield University Leadership:

We are writing today to urgently request a proactive approach to managing the unsafe off-campus
gatherings hosted by your students in Fairfield's beach area. Failure to do so is putting the safety of students and neighbors at risk.

Safety incidents are particularly frequent at Fairfield University students' annual "tradition" parties attended by large groups of underclassmen traveling from campus. The beachfront hosts of these parties do not have the facilities to safely accommodate this volume of partygoers--space, restrooms, security--leading to dangerous conditions, including rampant underage drinking in overcrowded homes and overloaded balconies. These conditions have led to multiple safety incidents and many more close calls. Some recent examples include:

-Santacon (12/10/22) - 17 ambulances called to the beach area, and at least 5 reported violent incidents (fistfights, brawls). Residents of Fairfield Beach Road were blocked from accessing their homes by the mass of partygoers and intervening first responders.
-White Party (9/9/23) - Multiple ambulances called to the beach area, including for an intoxicated 19-year-old student who bloodied himself on a jetty and later passed out in front of a non-student house.
-Halloween (10/28/23) - An "intoxicated male" fell 10-15 feet off of the roof of a house during the
Halloween party at Lantern Point. Elsewhere, FPD cleared 400 students from a single house.

In addition to the risks posed to partygoers, these events have dangerous consequences on the
surrounding neighborhood--increased traffic reduces accessibility to large parts of the beach area which potentially blocks emergency services from getting to those who need them, the police/fire/EMS presence at student parties diverts scarce resources from other parts of town, and intoxicated trespassing has led to confrontations, breaking-and-entering, vandalism, and theft of property.

We urge you not to wait to react to the next catastrophe, but to take recent "near misses" as a wake-up call: Your students are not hosting gatherings safely, and people are getting hurt.

While the University is careful to state that these parties are "not University-affiliated", make no mistake that they are Fairfield University traditions, marketed as part of the student life "beach living" experience, and are attended by the full breadth of your student body. Regardless of their origins or your legal distance, your students are being injured at them.

When the University takes over the tradition parties (Clam Jam, and after last year, Santacon)—hiring ample security, making them ticketed events, setting up port-a-potties—they are held largely without incident and minimize collateral damage to the neighborhood.

These parties are your student traditions. They are named by your students: White Party, Sham Jam, Mock Wedding, etc. We know they are coming. Please intervene to ensure they are held safely.

Sincerely,
The Fairfield Beach Residents Association