Miscommunication was at the root of Saturday's breakup of the Kappa Alpha Order fraternity's party, an events planning administrator said.
As the only registered fraternity party after the home football game, KA's first party since its suspension last semester was registered as a commons room party with 100 guests, but both Rick Gardner, Event Advising Center senior coordinator and Hayden Madry, KA social chair, confirmed that KA originally requested 400 guests. Duke University Police broke up the party early Sunday morning when it exceeded the number of registered guests, who overflowed onto Few Quadrangle.
Madry, a sophomore, said the University encouraged the group to register for a smaller number of guests than KA expected. "They said that it was unlikely 400 people would show up and that if the party was registered for a smaller number, we would not need as many party monitors," he said.
Gardner, however, said the group lowered their estimate because he told them their section was not big enough for the party and that having such a large party in the commons room would violate fire codes. Gardner said a communication gap between the planning office and the group resulted in the mix-up, and that he also did not realize the group wanted to overflow into the quad.
"It was a misunderstanding I had," Gardner said. "Normally when an event is outside, we have police, which they did not have."
He said KA wanted to amplify music outside, but he did not interpret that to mean they were requesting an outdoor party. Madry said he had spoken with Gardner about outside plans, however, which included having an outdoor DJ, alternate plans in the case of rain and possibly getting a tent.
"I was really surprised [they broke the party up]," Madry said. "It was my understanding they knew we were having an event outside."
Dean of Students and Assistant Vice President for Student Affairs Sue Wasiolek said she was not aware of the specific details of the party, but did not understand why a larger outdoor party would not have been permitted.
According to the police report, over 500 people attended the event. The only other events registered for Saturday night were the football game and an ice cream social in Gilbert-Addoms dormitory on East Campus, Gardner said. KA members said they had expected more guests and sent the University a list of additional people in the fraternity who were trained as party monitors, in case more guests arrived.
No one received citations and Wasiolek said the fraternity's student leadership was cooperative with police.
For groups registering parties in the future, Gardner recommended making clear their intentions and verifying that both sides understand the request.
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