Some residents have “zero tolerance” for partying students

09/04/2018

by Kali Hoffman and Talia Cuttitta

Nine residents sat around a table in Orange resident Steve Lichten’s backyard, who lives on North Waverly Street, on Aug. 30 to discuss their experiences living next to houses that Chapman students rent. Left to right: Steve Lichten, Chris Gray, Debbie Gray and Geoff Burgueno. Photos by Kali Hoffman

It’s 4 a.m. Orange resident Frank Grijalva, who lives half a mile from Chapman, has been up for an hour – but his neighbors are just going to sleep.

As he gets ready for work, he can hear them moving around in the house to his left. Despite having renovated his home years ago to dull the noise, he can still hear the sound of empty alcohol bottles clinking, doors opening and closing and the voices of college students making their way home from a party the night before.

“Permanent residents have no idea who lives next to us,” he said, gesturing to his front lawn, which he said is sporadically littered with beer cans, energy drink labels, condoms, and cigarette butts. “We walk outside, and we don’t know what we’re going to find.”

Chapman President Daniele Struppa predicted that the construction of Chapman Grand and Villa Park Orchards Residence Hall will allow 60 percent of undergraduate students to live in university housing, but going by the fall 2017 enrollment headcount, that still leaves at least 2,800 students living off campus. Chapman University had an undergraduate population of 7,020 in fall 2017, but information for fall 2018 is not yet available on the Chapman website.

Many undergraduate students live in neighborhoods surrounding Chapman, and the relationship between these students and longtime residents hasn’t always gone smoothly.

Chapman students Lagi Pakola, an undeclared sophomore, and Alison Freeman, a sophomore business administration major, baked homemade cookies for their neighbors after moving in, but have yet to give them out.

From 2015 to 2017, Chapman-related noise complaint calls to the Orange Police Department have close to doubled, according to data from the Orange Police Department, and 2016 amendments to Chapman’s noise ordinance – commonly known as the “party ordinance” – made it so party hosts and attendees in a “loud and unruly gathering” could be issued a misdemeanor citation or fined.

Some Orange residents, like the nine neighbors The Panther spoke with on North Waverly Street, say they are fed up with living so close to students and their ever-rotating crowds of party guests.

“Nobody moved here to have this happen,” said Orange County native Kristen Matsumoto.

The neighbors of North Waverly Street, some of whom have lived in the same home for more than 20 years, said they anticipate at least one loud party a month.

In particular, some talked about an “epic” Halloween party three years ago, where one of the estimated 250 guests was “crapping all up and down the sidewalk” while “completely drunk and wearing an Indian outfit,” said resident Steve Lichten. Because of bad experiences with partiers, Lichten said it’s now commonplace for him to submit a complaint to the police or the city before talking with the students face-to-face.

Resident Yolanda Alvarez said a few of these partygoers have jumped over her fence and onto her property. One night, her daughter awoke to two girls urinating against their house, she said.

Lichten, her neighbor, said he is also tired of students trespassing.

“This is Orange County. Most of us are armed,” he said. “If someone jumps into my yard, there’s probably a better chance they’re going to get shot because I don’t know what’s going on. You don’t jump into somebody else’s yard.”

Each of the residents The Panther spoke to on Waverly Street said they had called the cops on students multiple times.

“I like to be known as the street where we have zero tolerance for this,” said Iraida Oliva, who lives in Orange with her husband, Danny, and their three children.

But the student residents of Waverly Street believe their new neighbors need to reevaluate their outlook on college kids.

Sophie Gandesbery, a sophomore health sciences major, said she felt her new neighbors were immediately hostile to her and her roommates simply because they are Chapman students. Their neighbors complained about limited street parking spaces and trash cans that were left out overnight before even welcoming them to the neighborhood, she said.

“We’re adults, we deserve an open mind,” Gandesbery said. “We’re open to being constructive.”

Lichten admitted that sometimes, Chapman students are treated as “guilty by association.” Still, the neighbors of Waverly Street say they have a hard time trusting any collegiate newcomers based on their negative experiences. Another group of seven Chapman students – all members of a fraternity – lives across the street from Lichten. One of the housemates, junior business administration major Michael Rice, said he understands why permanent residents are wary.

“We came in with a bad rep already,” he said. “I understand, we get it. There were people living here for four years (before us) and (the residents) are super over it, but that doesn’t mean we are being disrespectful.”

Jack Raubolt, vice president of Community Relations at Chapman, wrote in an email to The Panther that an “increase in familiarity and communication” between students and other locals could help ease tensions.

Some students and residents agreed that mutual respect is the key to coexisting in a historic neighborhood next to a growing college campus. Others, like Rice’s roommate Ricky Hofert, a junior business administration major, believe the issue may not have a solution.

“We’re trying our best to coexist, but we’re college students with no kids,” Hofert said. “We are trying to learn how to live on our own.”