Penn bans daytime parties on Homecoming, sparking student outrage

Penn has banned daytime parties on Homecoming — a decision which the University attributes to new event policies.

The change will take effect on Nov. 16, the day of the Homecoming football game against Harvard. Homecoming weekend, which this year is scheduled for Nov. 15-17, is a widely anticipated celebration that welcomes alumni back to campus and features celebrations of University pride, including the football game. Students have historically marked the day of the football game with daytime parties thrown by greek organizations on and around campus.

Under the new policies, which were first posted on the Community Care website in February and which Penn calls Major Event Weekend protocols, events cannot overlap with official Homecoming activities on Nov. 16, Penn's Division of University Life wrote in a statement to The Daily Pennsylvanian.

“During these weekends, the Community Care team, in collaboration with DPS and other campus partners, implements additional event registration protocols to ensure adequate support and safety staff are available to serve the Penn community,” the spokesperson said.

Describing the Major Event Weekend protocols, the spokesperson said: "Undergraduate student group events must occur on Saturday evening during Homecoming Weekend to avoid overlapping with the University’s official Homecoming activities scheduled across campus throughout the weekend.”

Penn defines a Major Event Weekend as one when there has historically been “a significant increase in events and social activity.” The University implements additional parameters on these weekends — including a mandate that undergraduate social events be held during designated time blocks to “ensure sufficient support and safety staff is available.”

Penn's event registration policies require that student organizations register all events with alcohol, regardless of where the event will be held. According to the University Life website, the last days to submit event registrations with alcohol for Homecoming Weekend are Oct. 31 and Nov. 1.

Several fraternity members expressed frustration with the new policy and alleged a lack of transparency from Penn in interviews with the DP. The students, who were granted anonymity after citing a fear of retaliation from the University, claimed that Penn prohibited daytime party registrations to encourage students to attend a University-sponsored tailgate in Penn Park marking 175 years of fraternity and sorority life at Penn. 

The University-sponsored tailgate is free for students under 21 but costs up to $20 per ticket for general admission with an alcohol wristband. 

Engineering junior Aditya Sirohi, who serves as Beta Theta Pi's social chair, told the DP that OFSL has prevented them from registering any events before 7 p.m. on Homecoming — and added that, after 7 p.m., only around six fraternities are allowed to register due to capacity restrictions.

A fraternity president said the University issued no written communication about the change in policy and said they became aware of the change when the social chair of their fraternity was unable to register an event on the day of Homecoming. 

The president said that during a Sept. 4 meeting with greek life presidents and OFSL administrators, they brought up the apparent technical difficulty to Coordinator of Fraternity & Sorority Life Jennifer Probert, who then informed attendees about the change in policy. 

“It spiraled into, like, 20 minutes of mostly Panhellenic and [Intercultural Greek Council] presidents being like, ‘What the hell?’” the president said.

While Probert was the administrator who delivered the news, the fraternity president added that it was made "very clear" during the meeting "that this decision wasn’t on their end."

"[T]his is something that was pushed by the school on them, and it seems that they have very little say over it," the president said. 

At the Sept. 4 meeting, there was a "civil" and "productive" conversation about potentially allowing groups to register parties beginning at 4 p.m., rather than 7 p.m., the president added. While they said that the topic was not discussed as much at the October presidents' meeting, and no change was made, “it sounded like they were trying to work on bringing down the time until right after the football game ends.”

Still, some individuals involved in greek life feel that the decision is a "money grab," the president said, given that alumni have to pay to attend the University-sponsored tailgate. 

In a statement provided to the DP after this story was published, the University Life spokesperson wrote that Penn created the tailgate event to “foster community and offer safe, enjoyable programming” for Homecoming Weekend. It noted that the event is free for students, while the alumni admission fee covers “only a portion of event expenses, such as food and non-alcoholic beverages.”

“OFSL does not profit from the tailgate event, and suggestions of a ‘money grab’ are inaccurate and misrepresent the event’s purpose and intention,” the spokesperson wrote. 

The fraternity president also described an unequal regulation of off-campus organizations.

Penn is home to several off-campus groups which operate similarly to on-campus fraternities and sororities. Because Penn cannot prevent off-campus groups from hosting parties before 7 p.m. on Homecoming, there is a disadvantage for registered fraternities, the president said — a disparity that was brought up at the September meeting.

“[The University] said they have no control over it, which is what I think pissed us off a lot," the president said. "… Organizations that aren't regulated at all — and that people worry about sometimes because they're not regulated in any way, shape, or form — have the privilege of doing this on Homecoming, and the rest of the fraternities and sororities don’t.”

The University Life spokesperson clarified to the DP after publication that the Office of Student Affairs oversees off-campus groups and ensures compliance with Penn’s event registration protocols. 

“Each year, organizations must register with OSA, providing leader contacts, member rosters, and affiliated addresses,” the spokesperson wrote. “Like officially recognized fraternities and sororities supported by OFSL, off-campus groups are also expected to adhere to relevant University policies and engage responsibly in the Penn community.”

A second fraternity president told the DP that individuals who voiced concerns at the September OFSL meeting “kind of got in trouble” for the perceived tone of their complaints, claiming they have not participated in a meeting where administrators were open to hearing fraternity leaders' suggestions.

“[Administrators] kind of have all the power in the situation,” they said. “Everyone’s walking on thin ice there."

The second president added: "It's like they have this attitude of 'We’re gonna try it this year no matter what, and if it’s bad, we won’t do it next year.'"

Many groups now plan to host events off-campus on Homecoming day to “try to fill the void," this president claimed. But they remain disappointed by the decision to prohibit events during the day, since many fraternity alumni are now unable to visit campus.

"Everyone that I talked to was just really depressed, because there’s not a lot of school spirit at Penn, and it seems like Homecoming is one of the only days that everyone dresses up and goes out together,” they said. “I kind of felt that they were kind of taking away that sense of community.”

They also criticized the University-sponsored tailgate, saying that it is not “targeted at everyone” and does not “reflect that kind of community.”

“Students want to drink, and that’s the event you can only drink at if you’re over 21,” they said.

A former president of a different fraternity wrote to the DP that they feel more neutral about the change.

“I definitely understand people’s frustrations, but I also do understand OFSL’s decision,” they said. “For one, Friday is a normal registration day, so if people really want to throw [parties], they can do it then. Students are always saying they wish we had more of a football culture and more school spirit but don’t actually want to show up to the big games or do anything to promote that spirit.”

While they said that OFSL’s solution is not “perfect,” they also recognized the purpose of prohibiting fraternities from registering events that conflict with the game.

“[I]f people actually decided to buy in and go to the tailgate with all their friends and alumni, I think it definitely could be a fun event — even if it might not be as fun as some of the homecoming events people have gone to in past years,” they added. “It would still be a step in the right direction to actually getting more of that football culture.”

Senior reporters Emily Scolnick and Vidya Pandiaraju and staff reporters Kelly Yang, Nicholas Maharaj, Theo Greenfield, and Naija Agarwal contributed reporting to this piece.

Editor's Note: This article has been updated to include additional statements from a University Life spokesperson about the University-sponsored tailgate and the oversight of off-campus groups.