It didn’t take long for the school year’s house parties to stir up controversy in neighborhoods surrounding UT.
Not even halfway through the semester, UT parties have skyrocketed, causing numerous complaints to both UT and the city of Tampa.
“We have had numerous neighborhood complaints about the parties,” said Andrea Davis, a spokesperson for the Tampa Police department. “We made great progress there last year, but it’s a new year with new freshmen, and our education starts again.”
Though the party locations are scattered, a house at 1311 W. Nassau St., known to many students simply as the “Nassau House,” has drawn the attention of the Tampa Police Department.
“People just come up and down [the street], dropping cups everywhere, and a lot of cursing,” said neighbor Bill Bailey, a mason construction worker who lives two doors down from the house. One time he heard students say “F**k the police,” which aggravated him, saying that the kids in the neighborhood shouldn’t be hearing crude words at such young ages.
An overflowed party that caused a scene occurred a few days before fall term began, when almost 200 people were strewn around the house, street and neighborhood lawns, according to students who attended as well as the residents of the home.
“These are established, residential neighborhoods, so house parties create quite a disturbance when cabs line the streets, masses of students gather in the yard, trash and cups are strewn about and students behave poorly,” Dean of Students Stephanie Krebs said.
Connor Duff, sophomore communication major and one of the three residents living in the “Nassau House,” claims they never predicted such chaos since they only invited familiar faces.
Since then, the residents of the Nassau House have been more careful, but it seems that the reputation the previous owners established has not been undone.
“Last year it was pretty rowdy,” Bailey said. He made it clear that many neighbors are fed up with the noise and litter.
“The address looks very famous from the big parties last year,” Duff said. “We just want to have a few people over, but people just keep showing up, and it’s hard to deny them.”
Duff said the previous residents hosted out of control parties, which have resulted in an ongoing bad reputation.
According to Duff, police have come by the house 10 other times since the school year started, in attempts to stop parties before they start.
Duff and his two roommates made peace with next-door neighbors after their first party, giving out their phone numbers and sharing storage spaces. “We’re trying to change our reputation,” Duff said. “We’re part of the community, and we’re trying to be a positive part of the community.”
A couple of weeks ago, police questioned the residents during a controlled party at the house. Duff believes they were trying to capture evidence that the students didn’t actually live at the house and only rented the house to throw parties. “It’s not just the ‘Nassau House’ where parties happen; it’s a place where people live,” Duff said.
Davis from the Tampa Police Department says it is standard to determine who lives in the home during these investigations. They want to determine if the residents are over 21 years of age as well as the students’ names in order to provide this information to UT.
Student residents of the Newport Townhomes about a quarter mile from campus have also been formally warned about the parties. They reported that they recently received a long list of complaints in an email sent by the Townhome association. The warning reiterated the facility restrictions of no partying, littering and destruction or altering of property near the building.
“There are usually a substantial amount of beer cans and bottles smashed outside in the street or thrown near the dumpster,” said Briana Murphy, a junior studying allied health who lives in one of the townhomes. “People have a hard time figuring out how to throw away their garbage.”
Murphy says about half the homes are student-rented, but there are also several families with young children living in the complex who have complained about the ongoing disturbances. “There are parties usually going on every weekend,” Murphy said.
According to the email, the facility has threatened to have the Tampa Police crash the next unruly party and expose the student-residents to the dean of UT.
Since UT resides directly across the bridge from downtown, the controversy between students and local residents is bound to continue. While there are Tampa families and residents who get up early to go to work everyday, student disturbances will linger.
“There are parents, grandparents, children, people who have to go to work in the morning living on the same streets as our UT students,” Krebs said.
Even though the school cannot tell students “no partying,” they will continue educating students on the importance of respect and safety.
“We try to educate our students on the safety and liability issues of these type of large scale parties,” Krebs said. “In addition, we try to educate students on what it means to be a good neighbor.”
Krebs has also attended several neighborhood meetings to discuss the university’s response to off-campus house parties and says the school will continue to respond to community concerns.
She tells students to be smart and aware of their surroundings, not getting themselves in environmentally dangerous situations.
“Have fun, be safe,” Krebs said.
I would just like to point out the biased reporting in this article. This article makes it sound like the partying is not that bad. The people from the Nassau House show no respect for their neighbors. Connor Duff makes it sound as if they are trying to keep the partying down and have “controlled parties.” I would highly disagree. And to top it all off this article is written by a DG about a ZBT…