Alcohol law mix-up forces party shutdown

The members of Society Electronica have been haunted by a recurring nightmare. Once again, on Sat., Oct, 24, music and dancing at an all-night rave came to a sudden halt when Yale police officers shut it down at 3 a.m.

This time, Society Electronica's party was held at the Graduate Professional Student Club at Yale (GPSCY). Outside of GPSCY, Society Electronica member Sam Frank, SY '02, confronted and questioned the officers. "I asked the police what the deal was and they flashed the rule book in front of me and then pulled it away," he said. "GPSCY stopped serving alcohol at 2 a.m. [which was actually 1 a.m. due to the switch to Eastern Standard Time], but since there was alcohol on the premises it is considered a bar and [the whole party] has to close at 2 a.m. It's pretty stupid."

According to Acting Yale Police Chief James Perrotti, any establishment which has a Connecticut state liquor license is allowed to serve alcohol to people over the age of 21 and to host parties until 2 a.m. However, the establishment must completely shut down at 2 a.m. "GPSCY holds a liquor permit, so they are a permit location," Perrotti said. "They have to abide by the liquor control laws. They were in violation of the laws by going past two o'clock."

Perrotti added that the Connecticut State Liquor Control Act makes it clear that time changes due to Daylight Savings Time do not affect the mandated closing time.

Organizers of the event and the operators of GPSCY acknowledged that the police were legitimately enforcing Connecticut state law, but still were upset by what they considered to be hasty actions. "The police were doing their duty and were well within their bounds to close the party," Frederick Cooke, ARCH '00, general manager of GPSCY, said. "It was unfair of them, however, to close the party before they knew what the issue was."

Joanne Lee, TD '99, a coordinator of Society Electronica, insisted that the Yale police had never mentioned this law when they raided other late-night Society Electronica events. "Our second party last year was broken up at 3 a.m. because of noise complaints," she said. "They said nothing about the bar issue. We thought that since this was a Yale party on Yale premises it was not under the auspices of these [state liquor] laws."

According to Lee, members of Society Electronica are still suspicious of the officers' motives. "Everybody is debating whether or not the police came to the party with the intent to close it down," she commented. "It seems that the police showed up at the party wanting to close it down without any particular reason, and only determined the actual justification afterwards. That's what people are upset about."

Student leaders of Society Electronica explained that their group made several noise control attempts to appease the police. "We thought that the closing of our parties in the past was entirely an issue of noise complaints and so we spent a lot of time and money working to soundproof the place," Adam Simons, TD '99, another coordinator of Society Electronica, said.

According to Simons, Society Electronica had rented the space at GPSCY until 6 a.m. Fortunately for the group, they did not lose any money due to the premature end of the party. "[GPSCY's management was] really nice about the whole thing because we've worked with them before," he said. "We knew when we made this deal with GPSCY that this [forced early closing] might happen, so that didn't affect our deal. Essentially, that was part of the package."

To avoid another 3 a.m. shutdown, GPSCY is exploring the possibility of obtaining a juice bar license, which would allow them to host events past 2 a.m., as long as the event is located away from the alcohol service area. "Prior to Saturday night, we were not aware that we that we needed a juice bar license since the parties were not in the same space as where the liquor was served," Cooke said. "Now, we are definitely considering getting a juice bar license, but my understanding is that the city is not issuing them."

Perrotti stated that the Connecticut Liquor Bureau had been hesitant to administer juice bar licenses because of problems in the past with enforcement. "From past experience, we've seen [the juice bar license] around and we know that that type of permit causes problems and a lot of underage drinking," he said. "It's something that is very hard to regulate and we don't want to see the problems compounded. I don't know that [the Yale Police] are in favor of GPSCY getting a juice bar license at all."

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