Modern ‘Animal House’: Fraternity students disturb Orange residents

Orange homeowners adjacent to a house occupied by members of Chapman’s Phi Delta Theta chapter describe constant partying, noise, cars and other annoyances that disrupt the otherwise quiet neighborhood feel. Photo courtesy of Dean Cahill, taken from within his property

Updated April 30, 5:44 p.m. PT: “National Lampoon’s Animal House”: a classic 1978 film about college life, notorious fraternities and rowdy parties. For Orange resident Dean Cahill, watching fraternity students having the drunkest four years of their lives has never been more entertaining and comedic.

Until they move in next door.

“I know what I did in college,” said Cahill, who lives adjacent to a house occupied by members of Chapman’s Phi Delta Theta chapter. “Did I go out and party, but also do my studies and work a full-time job? Yes I did. But I never treated other people like this.”

Waking up in the middle of the night to dozens of maskless students yelling, cursing and blaring loud music has become commonplace for Cahill, he said, during the past year and a half since the students moved in.

The disturbances have pushed Cahill to call the police on numerous occasions. According to a report sent to The Panther from Kathy Palacio — the police records manager at the Orange Police Department — officers have been dispatched to the address 14 times since the beginning of 2019, 10 of which were listed as parties.

Although Cahill’s family has lived in the city for about 100 years, he feels he must move his family — including his 80-year-old mother — out to escape the disturbances.

“All of our bedrooms are on the side to the fence next to (the students),” Cahill said. “(My mother) gets woken up all the time … It’s hard to use our backyard. This last Saturday was my daughter’s 19th birthday, and we couldn't sit outside because there was so much noise coming over the fence.”

The Phi Delta Theta chapter was one of two Chapman Greek life organizations recently suspended, pending conduct investigations. The suspension has since ended, according to Student Conduct Director Colleen Wood, but both Cahill and two other neighbors across the street claim the constant partying never slowed.

Harry Raftus — a Phi Delta Theta member who Cahill said lives at the house — has amassed more than 1 million followers on TikTok, where he posts videos of himself drinking, many in the backyard of the house and up on a roof clearly visible from Cahill’s backyard.

Raftus did not respond to The Panther’s request for comment.

Julia Passwater and Veronique Barth live in the house directly across the street from the Chapman students, after just moving in February. The women said it took less than a week to realize there was a problem.

“Everybody’s had some fun in the past; we can all identify with that,” Passwater said. “But this is the major leagues of partying and having a good time … It’s disheartening to reach this point in life and deal with that on a day-to-day basis.”

Passwater and Barth — in the two months they’ve spent in Orange after moving from Indiana — were unaware the home they purchased was across the street from Chapman fraternity students. The couple has been in communication with Chapman’s community relations office regarding the constant disturbances.

“I’m not convinced that Chapman truly has an interest in doing anything about this particular issue at the moment,” Passwater said. “There’s not enough community outreach … I don’t have any faith in the university doing anything about this until it becomes a big enough issue.”

Alisa Driscoll, the interim vice president of community relations, described the community liaison program that sends Public Safety and Orange police officers to residential addresses with repeated issues to enforce community guidelines and discuss “good neighbor” policies.

“It’s a very positive, proactive approach,” Driscoll said. “They aren’t there to be disciplinarians or lay down the law or anything like that. Both of the officers involved in the program are really fantastic at connecting with students and being friendly and approachable.” 

Wood told The Panther that if educational approaches don’t seem to reduce student violations, additional consequences like fines or suspension could be used to address community concerns.

Wood also emphasized that the number of conduct code violations has decreased dramatically during this academic year. Since Aug. 1, there have been 17 breach of peace reports for this academic year, she said. At this point in 2020, there had been 27 breach of peace reports, and between August 1 and July 31 of 2019, there were a total of 28 reports.

Despite this apparent decrease of off-campus disturbances, Cahill has not felt the fraternity has slowed down. However, due to student privacy laws, Driscoll or Wood could not disclose any specific information regarding the situation.

“Students are legal adults, and they are living on private property. We don't have the authority to tell students where they can and cannot live,” Driscoll said. “From our perspective, there’s not really a way to mitigate that. I can definitely understand the frustration, but it’s kind of a situation nobody has control over.”

Despite Chapman’s continued effort to regulate and improve community relations, all three neighbors described a disconnect between community frustration and Chapman’s response and understanding.

“What (Chapman is) doing is not having an impact on the students,” Barth said. “It’s clear that there’s only so much Chapman is willing and able to do.”

The pandemic adds another layer to the issue: the neighbors agreed that they’ve never seen any of the students wearing a mask when coming in and out of the house.

Stressors like potential drunk driving, trash, misplaced and broken furniture, loud noises and random parties without warning have tormented Cahill to the point where he takes medicine to calm his anxiety. He’s fed up and running out of options.

“No matter who I talk to, nothing changes,” Cahill said. “We are playing by the rules and they aren’t … I just want it to stop. Why are we managing the house next door? It's ‘Animal House.’”