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March 18, 2005 > News > Future parties banned at Rice-owned Chaucer House

Future parties banned at Rice-owned Chaucer House

By Jenny Rees | Thresher Editorial Staff

After a party held at the Chaucer House in December resulted in the disbanding of the lacrosse team for hazing and Alcohol Policy violations, the residents of the house have been banned from hosting future parties there.

A nonprofit Rice-subsidiary corporation, JTVP, owns the duplex, located at 5615 and 5617 Chaucer St.

Martel College senior Will Thompson, one of seven residents of the house, said Rice Real Estate Officer Janie Bowes contacted him March 3 and informed him that he and the other tenants must sign a new lease or vacate the house within 72 hours.

The residents had not signed a lease for the current academic year, although they received one from JTVP in the fall, Thompson said. The tenants signed the new lease at a meeting with Bowes March 4.

Thompson said Bowes told the tenants she was disturbed by the events of the lacrosse team’s party, which took place Dec. 3 at the Chaucer House.

‘[Bowes] explained their department was very embarrassed by the party because they manage the property,’ Thompson said. ‘She said [the party] embarrassed the university and specifically their office.’

Under the new lease, the residents may have no more than one guest per resident at a time. ‘If we have eight people over and the pizza guy shows up, technically that’s a party and we’re in violation of our lease,’ Thompson said.

Bowes said the previous lease, which the residents never signed, also stated that large parties were prohibited. She said her office added the one-guest-per-resident limit in the new lease to clarify the point. No other major changes were made to the lease, she said. ‘Except for the party provision, all these rules were drawn from current housing agreements for the Rice dorms and graduate housing,’ Bowes said. ‘We just want to make sure the properties are not misused. … Any property owner would feel this way.’

Since the beginning of the fall semester, the residents of the Chaucer House have been required to inform Bowes of parties planned at the house in advance.

Bowes contacted them to inform them of the rule after she heard of a party held at the house during the summer. Thompson said he informed Bowes about the lacrosse party by e-mail beforehand.

However, Bowes said the residents of the house violated verbal agreements with her by allowing the lacrosse team to hold a large party at the house.

‘What occurred was a major problem, and it contradicted personal assurances [the residents] had made with regard to the types of parties that would be held there,’ Bowes said. ‘We want assurances, other than the personal ones, that it will not be repeated, and that’s what [the new lease] is about.’

JTVP owns 10 properties on Chaucer Street, Greenbriar Street and University Boulevard. The university acquired the properties at various times during the 1990s and leases the houses to students on a year-to-year basis, Vice President for Investments and Treasurer Scott Wise (Will Rice ‘71) said. Rice bought the duplex at 5615 and 5617 Chaucer in 1991, Bowes said.

Wise said Bowes and other administrators in his office evaluate each year whether to continue leasing properties to students, usually in April. He and Bowes both said no decisions have been made on whether the houses will be leased to students next year.

In the past, tenants have left furniture and decorations in the house, and these items have accumulated over time, Thompson said.

He said that at the March 4 meeting, Bowes told the residents they must remove all furniture in the house by May 31, their move-out date, because the house and other JTVP properties would no longer be leased to students.

‘We were left with the impression that after we took the stuff out and swept it clean, that it would just be left vacant,’ Thompson said. ‘It wasn’t unclear to anyone in that room what their intention was. My guess would be that in April, when the decision is made, that the decision will be not to lease the houses to students.’

Bowes declined to comment on the terms of any lease. She said students graduating in May — including all the current residents of 5615 Chaucer — will not be allowed to stay in the Chaucer house or other properties owned by JTVP.

She said students who have graduated have occasionally been allowed to continue living in one of the houses for a short time, but her office’s general policy is that only current students may lease and live at the properties.

Wise said possible disciplinary violations occurring in the houses have no bearing on the university’s decision of whether to continue leasing the houses. ‘We think in terms of what’s the best long-term use of the land,’ Wise said. ‘We look at it from an investment point of view.’

Rice bought the properties because they are located near campus and can be used for future building projects, Wise said.

‘Since there are houses there, we have leased them to students to … help address the demand for student housing,’ Wise said. ‘They weren’t acquired to provide student housing, but we have rented them to students in the short term while we decide how the land will be used in the long term.’

Thompson said he thinks the new lease agreement was a direct response to the controversy surrounding the lacrosse team’s party.

‘[Bowes] said this is the end of Chaucer house as ‘party central,” Thompson said. ‘She insinuated that it was an ‘Animal House.”

End of article

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