Over the course of the upcoming winter term, the AMS will begin to unveil the Safer Party Plan, a new set of event guidelines for AMS clubs intended to make social events safer.
Created in conjunction with the Sexual Assault Support Center (SASC), the Safer Party Plan aims to ensure that clubs who host parties understand what their responsibilities are as party planners.
In particular, the Safer Party Plan will ask party planners to address the issue of how severely-intoxicated party-goers will get home safely after a night out, since campus services such as Safewalk and Campus Security are unable to escort them. However, this part of the plan is still a work-in-progress.
One of the key orchestrators of the plan, VP Academic Jenna Omassi, hopes that it will start a larger conversation on campus about how to have a great time and party safely as well.
“Ultimately what we’re trying to do is create a safer party culture,” said Omassi. “We’re hoping that if we can make sure that students understand the considerations they should be making and that students are taking care of themselves and their peers, then we can be making strides forward.”
“It lets people know what resources are available on campus and steps that they can take to not just take care of themselves, but take care of each other,” said SASC manager Ashley Bentley.
According to Bentley, the Safer Party Plan aims to make students more cognizant about what they can do to stay safe when going out to party.
“It’s about getting people to be more educated and aware of how to create safer spaces for students while still having fun,” said Bentley.
The plan will also provide any clubs throwing parties with a list of services and resources that can be contacted in the case of an emergency.
“Folks need to have a bit more understanding of what this is; they don't want students just feeling like the AMS is telling them what to do and how to plan a party," said Bentley. "This is something that’s useful and helpful for you. It’s not trying to tell you how to party."
Though the plan is still a work-in-progress, it will eventually be tested with a few groups in the first semester of the coming year.
“The hope is by the end of this semester we’ll see it being rolled out to all the student groups," said Omassi. "Then we’ll be looking towards how we also are engaging in that dialogue of safer partying more generally with students.”
The Safer Party Plan is projected to be administered to any student groups and clubs within the AMS planning to host parties, but Bentley is hoping in the future that it can be adopted by all groups -- including the Greek Community -- across campus.
“We’re really hoping it’s something that can be adopted across campus, just as a resource of sorts,” said Bentley.
The plan is a cross-AMS initative that interacts with many different departments of the AMS. Among the groups and people who are working on the plan are VP Admin Ava Nasiri, Campus Security, AMS Student Services Manager Ron Gorodetsky, and others.