Many readers may have seen the recent news and opinion articles in The Diamondback about The Varsity apartment complex. They explain what residents already know about freshmen’s barbaric, drunken behavior that has plagued the second and third floors of the building, but both articles omit the most newsworthy aspect of the entire story: that top-down restrictions employed to protect The Varsity have turned it into a seemingly autocratic police state.
Merriam-Webster’s defines an autocracy as a “government in which one person possesses unlimited power.” When signing their leases, tenants were fed more propaganda than facts. Many Varsity residents, myself included, remember the promise of a non-restrictive visitation policy. This stands in stark contrast to the neighboring University View’s guest sign-in policy, and it was a key reason many former View tenants migrated to The Varsity. But after the first few weeks of school, without receiving any warning or notice, residents of The Varsity were suddenly required to sign in all guests who accompanied them into the building.
This was annoying but understandable, given the amount of destruction caused by belligerent visitors in the past. Yet the real move into unchecked power came with management’s next “security measure.”
On a Saturday night a few weeks ago, seven friends and I were playing music and enjoying ourselves in my apartment when a police officer’s blunt knock at the door terminated our merriment. The officer wondered whether we were underage and drinking. We politely told him no, we were just listening to music. Apparently, this police officer and fellow officers had been let in to sweep all the building’s floors for parties.
This trend continued every weekend thereafter, as police officers became a weekly staple at The Varsity. There was no notification or email, no meeting with the community advisor, not a single form of warning or even statement of the police’s weekly arrivals. Just like that, The Varsity had now become another tool in University Police’s offensive on off-campus drinking.
Irish political scientist Edmund Burke once said, “The true danger is when liberty is nibbled away, for expedience, and by parts.” The next unannounced imposition on tenants’ rights came in the form of a “resident memo” posted in our elevators. The memo explained how free guest parking had been turned into daily running parking meters. From 7:01 p.m. to 6:59 a.m. every day, the building’s stairwells are now “exit-only” and inaccessible to the tenants paying nearly $1,000 per month to use them. On Thursdays through Saturdays, the most convenient of the four elevators located in the parking lot is shut down from 7 p.m. through 7 a.m. The Varsity no longer suggested using its visitation policy; management demanded it.
The point of this column is not solely to criticize The Varsity’s management but also to remind it you cannot hide the makings of an autocracy in a democracy with free press. I hope this column informs readers about tenants, who are being arrested and cited in their own apartments without reason or warrants, and about our grievances, which have so far gone ignored by the “administrators.”
I may sound preachy, but I love the living space in The Varsity; it is truly a luxury apartment. But instead of tanning beds and a game room, perhaps investing in a security camera system and holding residents accountable for their actions would have been more valuable.
Luckily, my lease states I cannot be targeted for eviction if I “complain” about The Varsity. Then again, there are many things different from the lease I signed last year. Besides, when have rules ever stopped a dictator before?
Richard Scordato is a sophomore government and politics major. He can be reached at richard.scordato817@gmail.com.
