Eight Northeastern students were summonsed to appear in Roxbury District Court and up to 80 additional students may face university sanctions after Boston police broke up an off-campus party early Sunday morning.
Students cited by police – Brian Stickles, 18; Andrew Kahn, 19; Matthew Brem, 20; Thomas Ferguson, 20; Robert Ranley, 20; Lyle Stevens, 20; and Dustin Leer, 21 – face charges ranging from disturbing the peace to possession of alcohol, said Boston Police Department (BPD) spokesman David Estrada.
An eighth student was cited by police but was transported back to his residence in Speare Hall, and another student was transported to Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, according to police reports.
The News declined to publish the eighth student’s name because his age could not be confirmed in the report.
Leer, as the only person of legal age among the group, was also charged with delivery of alcohol to underage persons, Estrada said.
In addition, officers took the names of other students who were at the party – a figure that may be as high as 80 people, according to the report.
Director of Government Relations and Community Affairs Jeff Doggett, who was accompanying police at the time of the incident, said students identified by police will be reported to the Office for Student Conduct and Conflict Resolution (OSCCR), where they could face university sanctions.
The students who were summonsed by police will also be reported to OSCCR, according to the report.
Responding to a complaint about a loud party at the residence, located at 8 Eldora St. in Roxbury, BPD officers identified themselves at the door but were not immediately allowed to enter the building, according to the report.
Doggett said he heard people in the building laughing and saw another student looking out from an upper window – a response he said was “unacceptable.”
“If the Boston Police Department knocks on your door, you should answer it, and they didn’t,” he said.
Officers then entered the rear of the building by force. The basement was “designed as an after hour club, with a bar and low lighting” and had “no means of emergency exits and only one narrow stairway to get out,” according to the report.
“I know there were well over 60 or so people in the basement,” Doggett said.
Six of those summonsed by police – Brem, Ferguson, Kahn, Leer, Ranley and Stevens – reported the address as their residence, according to the report.
Besides living together, the six students also share membership in the Northeastern chapter of Kappa Sigma fraternity, according to Facebook. Ranley and Brem each serve on the chapter’s executive board, as president and vice president for public relations, respectively.
Ranley declined to comment on the matter.
Doggett said university officials accompany officers on patrol “every single weekend,” and that “if we find something, we have to report it to OSCCR.”
“I think the most important thing was that there was underage drinking going on, first and foremost,” he said. “The people living in that house ultimately are responsible for their guests, and if they’re going to have friends over and they’re going to drink too much, someone’s got to be responsible.”
Vice President for Student Affairs Ed Klotzbier said this type of incident is his “worst nightmare,” and said he would be “very concerned that students and student groups we know and have a lot of respect for are running these types of parties [if the allegations prove to be true].”
“Thank God that Boston police were able to find these students who were in harm’s way and get them the appropriate medical treatment,” he said.
