According to staff members at Residence Life and those living in Lawrence Hall, some floors in the building have seen a dramatic rise in noise complaints this year.
While specific numbers were not shared by Residence Life staff, one floor – floor 15 – was the main floor consistently mentioned by staff members as problematic.
Staff members, who were given anonymity on the basis of sharing insider information, say anecdotally it feels as though they have to consistently remind people of quiet hours policies and to be courteous to fellow students on their floors.
According to the university handbook, quiet hours are in effect from 11 p.m. to 9 a.m. Sunday through Thursday and from 1 a.m. to 10 a.m. on weekends in every residence hall.
Yet, some Residence Life staff say these rules have routinely been ignored by students living in a few select floors, such as the 14th and 15th floors.
One staff member said they have not had to deal with many issues on their floor, but they chalked this up to the floor being occupied by mostly upperclassmen students. Additionally, Student Life staff overseeing the other buildings such as Conestoga Hall and the Boulevard Apartments say they almost never have to reprimand residents for being too loud.
The university handbook details rules on loudness both with people generally being disruptive and with residents using sound amplification equipment such as speakers and subwoofers after quiet hours. The general rule is if one person outside a residence on a floor can hear it, then the dorm is too loud.
Additionally, students caught using speakers at loud volumes past quiet hours multiple times could have them confiscated by the university, according to the handbook.
But according to Residence Life staff, the problem hasn’t been so much people playing music too loudly, but students being disruptive at all hours of the night.
One staff member said they have received “so many” noise complaints about the same room on their floor that they have had to go to the culprit’s dorm room and almost scorn the residents for continuing to be disruptive.
According to Student Life, punishments for excessive noise and violations of quiet hours typically start with a warning letter addressed to residents staying in a dorm. If the problem persists, the residents may be censured with a formal warning or given a $25 fine.
Punishments for noise violations do not get any more severe than a $25 fine. No Residence Life staff interviewed could say whether or not a student has been fined for noise reasons this year, but they said it is extremely rare, noting that noise problems typically stop after the first warning.
Before 2019, there was no quiet hours policy across the university. Originally, Residence Life staff only had a 24-hour courtesy hours policy to go by, which requests that students be mindful of their neighbors and peers at all times while in the residence halls.
However, this had the problem of noise complaints being almost impossible to enforce. At the time, REs would typically set their own rules similar to quiet hours, but they could not enforce them beyond telling residents to be quiet because there was no official university policy to go with it.
Residence Life staff are not the only university staff equipped to deal with noise complaints. If an RE is unavailable or otherwise busy, Point Park Police can respond to complaints and ask offending residents to keep the volume down. These reports are typically included in the police force’s weekly crime reports when they happen.
