Chapman partners with Orange police as county is removed from watchlist

Chapman University is partnering with the Orange Police Department to fund increased patrols in local neighborhoods to more quickly neutralize off-campus partying with the potential to spread COVID-19. SAM ANDRUS Photo Editor

A piece of advice for Chapman students who want in-person classes to resume at some point in the fall semester: Don’t be like Bryce Hall. 

Chapman Provost Glenn Pfeiffer brought up Hall, a TikTok personality living in a Hollywood Hills mansion with other young social media creators, while discussing the COVID-19 risk factors associated with off-campus parties. After holding a 21st birthday bash Aug.14 in Los Angeles, featuring a large number of attendees with no social distancing or mask-wearing to be found, Hall’s power was cut by Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti due to the young influencer’s blatant disregard for public health orders. 

“I don’t think we’re going to do anything as harsh as that,” Pfeiffer said. “If we get a report from a police that a certain house is having a party, we’re going to go talk to those people and say, ‘Look, this is risky and you may not get sick, but you may catch the virus and pass it on to somebody else who will.’ And we cannot as a university afford that.” 

The Orange Police Department (OPD) has already reported incidents of off-campus parties among students to Chapman, Pfeiffer said. Dean of Students Jerry Price sent out an all-students email Aug. 27 detailing safety guidelines for students to interact with their friends, such as spending time outside, wearing masks, staying six feet apart and remaining in groups of less than 12 people. Residents in Chapman housing will also be limited to hosting one guest at a time and that guest must live within the same building. 

The email also mentioned any off-campus party would result in a “breach of peace” violation, which may result in disciplinary action involving fines of up to $800 and even suspensions. He also noted that the school is partnering with OPD to increase patrols in local neighborhoods, an announcement met by student criticism in the form of a petition with over 300 signatures to stop the funding. 

Sergeant Phil McMullin said that the department won’t be specifically seeking out gatherings – instead, the onus would be put on neighbors to notify the authorities of disruptive noise from nearby residences. So to anyone living off campus wanting to invite over friends for a Friday night rager, Pfeiffer said others will be paying attention. 

“I know in this environment, we’re not going to be as tolerant as we normally are; the neighbors aren’t going to be as tolerant as they normally are,” Pfeiffer said. “We’re going to get more involved than we were in past years.”

Thus, the potential roadblock in the path of reopening doesn’t necessarily lie with Chapman’s CU Safely Back plan – it’s the potential for off-campus social gatherings, as a horde of students moved back to Orange County to live in houses or apartments near campus in hopes the semester will eventually resume in person.

“If you look at other universities – it’s what happened in (the University of Southern California), it’s what happened at other universities back east – students in off-campus housing tend to have gatherings,” Pfeiffer said. “People want to have a party or a group of their friends over and next thing you know somebody shows up who’s been exposed, shares it with a lot of other people and then you have 40 or 50 people who test positive.”

Orange County was removed from California’s COVID-19 County Data Monitoring watchlist Aug. 23, as the number of new reported daily cases trends downward. Director of the Orange County Health Care Agency Clayton Chau told The Panther if the county remains off the watchlist for 14 days, institutions of higher education have the potential to reopen. 

Thus, as long as Chapman is in compliance with state guidelines and remains off the watchlist for 14 days, the university could reopen. However, the road to an open campus isn’t that simple; just like in a murky summer, Chapman is still waiting on concrete direction from the state government.

The plan once they do receive word, according to Pfeiffer, is to introduce a phased reopening of classes starting with graduate programs and individual thesis or research courses in the Dodge College of Film and Media Arts and the Schmid College of Science and Technology, before then easing into undergraduate education two to three weeks later. Additionally, in an effort to ensure safety as best as possible, Chapman has given the option to faculty to continue their classes online even in the event of a return to campus. Pfeiffer estimated 25% of professors are planning on a fully online semester. 

In the meantime, President Danielle Struppa told The Panther he believed a majority of Chapman students will be responsible and stay safe. He empathized with students’ desires to interact with one another outside of the university’s eye, he stressed the importance of thinking larger than oneself, given the high risk of COVID-19 transmission in crowded social situations. 

“Listen, I’ve been a young kid too and I know socializing is so important,” he said. “But there are high-risk behaviors that are not so much damaging to the student themselves but to the community.”