On this day in 2002, University of Rhode Island student Keith Forman ’02, a former Good Five Cent Cigar columnist, received a booklet from URI on guidelines for living off-campus, inspiring an editorial that condemned Narragansett, Rhode Island and the URI community.
The booklet arrived after Narragansett police came to his house to investigate a noise complaint for throwing a party, according to Forman. He was in his last semester as a student, and this was the first time the police came to end one of his parties. If it weren’t for his housemate, charges would have been higher than a warning.
“In two and a half years of living on the same street, we’ve never received a noise complaint,” Forman said in the column. “We all know our neighbors, and they know us.”
Parties are not permitted in Narragansett, according to the Narragansett Properties website and the public nuisance code of conduct. Family and friends can visit, but large gatherings can cause property damage and violators may receive an expensive police citation. Violations also put students at risk of losing their ability to rent from them again.
There is no online version of the aforementioned 2002 booklet, but off-campus housing provided updated ordinance rules this year, listing the offenses for a public nuisance in Narragansett.
“If police respond to a public nuisance gathering, property owners are mailed a notice, and all owners, residents, organizers, and attendees can be held responsible for any penalties,” Off-campus housing rules said.
These policies differed from the 2002 booklet, where URI didn’t meet the social needs of students, according to Forman’s opinion.
“The booklet [said] if a student is forced to live down the line because the social opportunities on campus are inadequate, you become a part of a community that doesn’t really want you at all, the Town of Narragansett,” Forman’s article said.
Narragansett residents shouldn’t get upset with college students because they are only acting in a manner consistent with a college environment, according to Forman.
“Ask any student about the social conditions of our campus and I’m sure you’d get the same answer from almost all of them, even the students living in fraternities,” Forman said.
Today, living off-campus is considered a privilege, according to URI commuter affairs. URI partners with Apartments.com and has a guide from 2019 to help students find housing. The guide includes the ordinances for renting in South County.
Students hosting parties are responsible for the behavior of their guests, according to the guide. Loud party complaints can result in a $500 fine and/or one year in jail. If the police come, talk to them.
The earliest digitized URI noise complaint statistics filed were from 2013-2014, according to the police department website. The most noise complaints URI students received in Narragansett were 551, with 357 resulting in arrests for the year. For public nuisance, there were 11 arrests, seven in December and four in January.
Compared to this year, there have been seven noise complaints resulting in a sticker between Jan. 19 and Feb. 1, according to the website. Five public nuisance complaints led to an arrest.
There is no digitized record of what the social conditions within the URI community were in 2002, but the conditions have improved, according to the 2025 SNAP Climate survey. 75% of the community who took the survey felt like they belonged at the university and 88% of the community feel like they’re treated fairly.
Whatever the off-campus living conditions were like in 2002, they have improved, as there is no little yellow booklet that tells students they are “forced to live down the line.”
