By Evan Le’Mon, The Whetstone

Class of 2017 alumni Ann Louty said she felt “betrayed” by what she felt were excessive security measures at Wesley’s Homecoming Pep Rally and 2000’s Party.

“They were checking students’ IDs numerous times, and if you weren’t a currently enrolled student you couldn’t get in,” she said. “They were turning a lot of people away at the door- I still work for Wesley and I couldn’t even get in.”

Louty, who works in Wesley’s Wolverine Stop, said she knew a lot of people who had come from out of state to take part in the Homecoming festivities.

“It ended up being a waste of a trip,” she said. “They didn’t feel welcome.”

Louty said she wasn’t particularly surprised by the turn of events.

“It’s Wesley,” she said.

Student Activities Board (SAB) Vice President Kabrea Tyler said the rule wasn’t their idea.

“SAB really pushed for alumni to be allowed in,” she said. “We even wanted all the current students to at least be able to bring an outside guest.”

SAB Advisor Mark Berry said that they were mandated by Chief of Security Walt Beaupre to only allow current Wesley students into the events. Security and Dover PD officers were stationed at the door at both events with computers checking students’ IDs and enrollment statuses to ensure that this took place.

“He didn’t give us a specific reason why, other than the fact that it was a safety and security issue,” Berry said. “I know the dining hall where we had the party only has a capacity of 400, and I think they were concerned about issues that have happened in previous years with riots and things like that.”

Beaupre said that he didn’t recall any requests in the paperwork for outside guests at the Pep Rally, but with the amount of large-scale events for Homecoming this year there was not enough time to request Dover PD for the 2000’s Party.

“In addition to the other time requirements for getting events approved, Dover PD requires a minimum of three weeks for extra duty police officer requests,” he said.

When she heard about the mandate, class of 2011 alumni Antonique Vinson said she felt “unwanted and disrespected.”

“I heard that Dover PD would be there to arrest unauthorized people if they still tried to come to the party,” she said. “Homecoming is for the alumni, why not let us come home and have a good time? It makes me not want to financially give back if I’m not even allowed on campus for homecoming events.”

After some alumni attempted to sign up online for the events, Berry said sent an e-mail out stating that alumni and other outside guests would not be allowed entry to the events. It also stated that he would be turning the names of the unauthorized people who attempted to sign up to both security and Dover PD.

“My goal is to make sure that SAB can do this again,” he said. “If I’m being told that we can’t have outside guests, then I have to monitor that. I felt it would’ve been rude of me to not tell them that they couldn’t come ahead of time. If they still decided to show up anyway, what happened at that point would be up to security and Dover PD.”

Berry said that some students who showed up after the doors to the 2000’s Party closed at 10:30 were given citations for arguing with security. He also said some students were giving or selling their wristbands to both outside guests and fellow students who missed the deadline.

“We had some people at the door who looked unfamiliar, and we noticed they had messed up wristbands,” Berry said. “When they were questioned by security, some of them disclosed that they had purchased the wristbands from people inside the party.”

Beaupre said once they determined that this was occurring, they required everyone who had a wristband on for re-entry to produce their Wesley IDs again at the door.

To bypass this problem in the future, Berry said SAB is purchasing a blacklight stamping system and a handheld device that will swipe students’ IDs and show if they’re current students or not.

When she heard about the mandate, class of 2011 alumni Antonique Vinson said she felt “unwanted and disrespected.”

“I heard that Dover PD would be there to arrest unauthorized people if they still tried to come to the party,” she said. “Homecoming is for the alumni, why not let us come home and have a good time? It makes me not want to financially give back if I’m not even allowed on campus for homecoming events.”

Berry that there was a “whole series of events’ specifically for alumni during Homecoming, including guided campus tours, the Alumni Picnic and Tailgate, and the dedication of the Alumni Circle.

Vinson said that the events available weren’t enough to convince her to attend this year’s Homecoming.

“There was nothing geared toward the younger alumni,” she said. “Wesley also had their Homecoming at the same time as DSU – that’s not a good idea.”

Berry said that he would encourage any alumni who are unsatisfied with the events offered to them during Homecoming to reach out to Laura Mays, the Director of Alumni Relations, with any ideas they have to change the itinerary.

Beaupre said that in order to have outside guests at Homecoming events, the events must be planned “well in advance.”

“Keep in mind, outside guests were permitted at some of the Homecoming events that were planned far enough in advance,” he said. “Specifically the fashion show, which was held on campus and the Variety Show, which was held at the Schwartz Center.”

Tyler said that the no guest mandate is not unique to Homecoming, and security has been “really steady” about having only current students at campus events.

“I personally don’t like it,” she said. “We’re still going to keep pushing to have outside guests at the bigger events, but if security says it’s for the safety of the students then there’s nothing we can really do about it.”

Kinesiology Club President Shardae Freeman agreed that getting permission to have outside guests is challenging.

“We tried to have outside guests at our Famous Who party on the eleventh,” she said “Even though we got extra security and Dover PD, we still weren’t allowed to due to what happened at Homecoming.”

Freeman said she thinks allowing outside guests would be beneficial to the college.

“It makes the events bigger, and brings in more money if you’re charging for them,” she said. “It also gives Wesley more exposure- we don’t get enough as it is because we’re a small private school.”

Tyler said that she thinks the only way security will become more flexible with guests is if more student organizations push to have guests allowed at their events.

“We have to be our own advocates,” she said.