UNR Officials Call Cops on Students Practicing Music
Lauren Juillerat reports on an uncomfortable incident which took place recently at UNR’s Honor Court involving UNR higher ups and rattled student musicians.
Wednesday, March 6th, four University of Nevada, Reno students set up their musical instruments to begin practicing for an upcoming show they were all excited about.
These students, who have asked to remain anonymous, are part of a local Reno band. Their goal was to comfortably run through their set list. They ultimately decided on practicing in the University Honor Court, also known as the Gazebo.
Upon concluding a run through of their first song, and beginning to play their second, they were abruptly approached by Catherine Cardwell, who they said identified herself as the Vice President of Student Services. She immediately approached them, motioning with her hands, and shouting that they needed to stop playing immediately.
They say Cardwell told them that she had received various noise complaints from people surrounding the area. One of the students apologized for their disturbance and suggested that they could completely turn down their music. The students were confused though, as they had practiced at this spot many times prior, as have a few other Reno bands, and questioned Cardwell about the rules they were in violation of.
According to the students, Cardwell was holding several papers in hand, detailing the University rules they were breaking. One of those rules was University Sound Policy 5,440 that states “amplified sound is prohibited in all areas south of the Fitzgerald Student Services Building except for the Manzanita Bowl, Barnes Lawn, and Richard Bryan Plaza’’ during regular business hours Monday-Thursday from 7:00 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. and Friday from 7:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m.”
In response to reading this, a student asked if shutting off their amplified sound would suffice. For reference, amplified sound would be anything utilizing electricity that helps boost sound levels, which in this case was the student’s PA speakers. If these were turned off the students believed they could practice at a quieter level and would not be in violation of the rule, but they said Cardwell refused this solution.
Another rule on the papers Cardwell handed them stated: “The level of sound measured at 50 ft from the source shall not average more than 95 decibels (dBA) with sounds peaks no more than 100dBAs.”
One of the students, an audio engineer who has completed audio classes at UNR, says that he has engineered sound for various school related and non school related events, such as sound at The Holland Project, West Street Market and Nightingale Hall.
Using the knowledge the university taught him, he shared that they most likely did not exceed over 100 decibels and pointed this out to Cardwell.
“I doubt the sound produced by our practice exceeded 100dBa at 50 feet from our source. I’ve measured the decibel levels in a lot of different settings before and this level is typical of a large-scale concert from that distance. Regardless, Cardwell told us to stop so we complied,” the student says.
The students had already stopped playing music when they were asking Cardwell questions to receive clarification on the rules they were in violation of.
Cardwell then allegedly began demanding the student their IDs and names and when they say they refused to do so in fear of being in trouble for a misunderstanding, Cardwell, according to the students, told them that they were being disrespectful and pulled out her phone to call Dean of Students Office Leilani Kupo.
“I have no idea how she could’ve perceived us asking questions as being rude, but that’s clearly how she took it. Which wasn’t our intention at all. She even came up to me and said ‘you can’t talk to me like that. Do you know who I am? I’m the Vice President of Student Services’” alleges one student.
“A few minutes after she had made the phone call, Dean [Kupo] showed up and they both began demanding our student IDs and threatening to call the police if we didn’t give them our names and identification.”
He says that during these interactions they had already been packing up their instruments to leave, when the two staff members seemed to only escalate the situation. The students say they kept getting threatened with the police showing up despite them no longer playing music, and getting ready to leave.
“I think that’s what I find crazy is that we stopped playing when she asked us to stop and she still called the police when all we were doing was asking about the rules,” says another student.
Since the four musicians did not feel comfortable, they still refused to give identification which resulted in Kupo calling the university police. Within 15–20 minutes the students were fully packed up when four cops arrived at the scene. The students say the university police told them they could leave.
“The police officers were honestly really kind to us but the UNR staff were incredibly rude and persistent on following us around. They were getting angry with us when all we were doing at that time was packing our equipment. I don’t think the faculty’s actions were appropriate when handling this,” one student says.
Kupo was contacted, asking if she would like to make a statement regarding this incident and UNR Communications Officer Jessica Lozada responded on her behalf.
She told reporter Lauren Juillerat that the group of students was playing music in the Honor Court, which resulted in them violating two University Administrative Manual (UAM) policies. In addition to the violation Cardwell mentioned, Lozada says that the group was also in violation of UAM 5,302 which is the Policy for Use of University Space.
This policy highlights the rules for booking university spaces when it comes to “events”, and “major events.” The policy defines an event as, “any function, including but not limited to, a gathering, meeting, lecture, forum, program, performance, rally, tabling, conference, speaker presentation, workshop, training, seminar, faculty or department meeting, or student club meeting, that does not meet the definition of a Major Event.”
A “Major Event” is described the exact same way except there are a few additional rules. For instance, concerts qualify as a major event, if over 150 people are anticipated to attend said function, that’s a major event, if the event will affect campus safety and security, significantly affect campus services, if there’s substantial likelihood of interfering with campus functions and activities, or if alcohol is intended to be served, it also qualifies as a major event.
The rule also mentions the following regarding a concert with amplified sound or dance, “defined as a social gathering whose primary purpose is the promotion of free movement to amplified music in an unobstructed area at a campus property. This does not include events at which performers are the only people dancing.”
Lozada said that the group violated this policy specifically because they did not book the space in advance or receive approval to do so.
The students though contend that they were not in violation of this rule as the Honor Court is not even listed as a place to book on campus. “The outdoor areas of the University include the Manzanita Bowl, the Jot Travis Lawn, the area outside of the Mathewson-IGT Knowledge Center, Hilliard Plaza, the areas adjacent to Pennington Student Achievement Center, as well as designated exteriors of University-owned or leased properties which are schedulable,” according to wording from the university.
It appears that the Honor Court wouldn’t even qualify as a designated exterior because by definition a designated exterior would be a main entrance, a main exit, lobby, bathroom, or loading zone, which the gazebo specifically is not.
Even if the Honor Court was listed as a bookable part of campus, the students argue that they wouldn’t even have qualified to book the space as an “event” because the policy does not have an outlined section for rehearsals.
The other violation Lozada mentioned, the sound violation, was brought to the university’s attention due to reports received from UNR employees saying it was disrupting their ability to work. She says “the group was asked to leave and encouraged to reach out to Scheduling Services if they wanted to book the space in the future.”
Cardwell was also contacted, asking if she would like to comment further. Lozada replied on her behalf with the same statement than for Kupo.
“I used to love that spot because the University community has always been so kind,” one of the rattled students said afterwards. “Students and university police included, because they’ve stopped to watch and listen to our music. I’ve never experienced such hostility … from UNR staff.”
The students take responsibility and admit that they did violate rules they had not been aware of. However, they felt it was out of proportion when Kupo and Cardwell called the university police on them when they were already packing their things to leave the premises.
