In an effort to improve the relations between Penn State students and the residents of State College, law enforcement and community officials are considering a new party registration program. The concept is modeled after a similar program in Fort Collins, Colorado, the home of Colorado State University, which implemented a voluntary party registration system in 2009, to much success.

The Fort Collins program allows students to pre-register their parties with local law enforcement. If, during the registered party, someone calls the police with a noise complaint, the party organizers will receive a special warning, allowing students a set time period to bring the party under control. Therefore, the program allows students to avoid fines and criminal charges for disturbance of the peace, underage drinking, DUI and similar offenses.

Reports indicate that the CSU program has been largely successful. Complaints about loud parties have dropped by half, while students have saved approximately $80,000 in fines. In addition, police have saved between 20 and 30 minutes per warning issued, which has also saved the police department a significant amount of money. Over 95 percent of students who registered parties reported that they would do so again.

Although there have been no formal proposals for a party registration system, both Penn State and State College officials are optimistic that the program could succeed here. Penn State students appear to be on board as well, according to a representative from the University Park Undergraduate Association. "Students really do want to make sure that they're not disrupting other people," he said.

Source: StateCollege.com, "State College, PSU Eye Registration Idea for Student Parties," Adam Smeltz, 7 July 2011