Last Monday, President Ohle, Lex Smith, and Pete Armstrong received an anonymous e-mail from a student questioning the enforcement of Wartburg's alcohol and noise policies.

The student wrote, "I believe that the guidelines and penalties [for noise and alcohol violations] in place are fair, but they need to start being enforced...Quiet time is supposed to start at 11:00 p.m., which would be fine if that's when it actually started. I have three tests today and I was kept awake by their noise until 1:30 or 2:00 this morning. For those of us that care about our grades, it would be nice to get a little sleep."

The student had also written about observations of other students frequently violating the alcohol policy "with little effort to hide their actions." The student is considering moving off-campus if existing policies are not enforced.

Other students said they agree that Wartburg does have problems with alcohol and noise, but not to a large extent.

A student from the Residence said problems described in the anonymous e-mail are not isolated, but "the guys' dorms are definitely worse."

"Maybe there are parties on campus, and maybe they do get a bit loud, but talk to your RA. That's what they're there for. Don't let it come down to blaming everyone and leaving college," said one Vollmer Hall resident.

A Clinton resident said, "Yes, there is a problem! People [on my floor] are being loud past quiet hours on weekdays, even after I and others have told them to keep it down. It's probably alcohol-related, and I am going to talk to my RA about it."

"I'm probably the one being loud and obnoxious," said one Hebron resident, "but no one's ever said anything to me. Our floor is up pretty late anyway."

Alcohol and noise issues were discussed at an RA meeting Sunday night.

Armstrong wants RAs "to be as vigilant in enforcing as possible but to also help students in feeling comfortable speaking up about what bothers them. When no one speaks to a student about his or her abusive or obnoxious behavior, the student may not even realize that he/she is bothering someone else. It might be that the RAs need to get more students to speak up, which in turn might [make] their job a little easier."