Canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Party Smart program is being planned to return to service for Colorado Mesa University (CMU).
The program, which doesn’t yet have a set date for return, provided a way for students to register parties with the university.
“People would come register their party with us, and you list a host or co-host for every party, [and] say this was where we’re having a party, and when,” Director of Student Life Shanae Mundee said.
From there, the police would be notified about the existence of the party. If the party received a noise complaint or something of that nature, the house would be called and given a warning. The police wouldn’t actually show up unless a second call happened. This way basically saved time for everyone involved, and gave the party a bit of a cushion.
“Once a year, every host has to do training with the police department to help foster the relationship with the police department,” Mundee said. “It also gives a lot of tools on if the party is getting loud, how to control how to de-escalate without being the bad guy, or just giving people tools to party safely and have fun and not worry about getting the cops called all the time.”
The university is currently deciding how to mesh the program with COVID-19 restrictions.
“The hope is to get it going this semester,” Mundee said. “I mean we’re talking weeks to get it up. It’s just how to re-orchestrate it to be COVID friendly, but no doubt it will be ready for fall too.”
