Beaches Treated With 'Complete Disrespect' At Fairfield U Party, Neighbor Says

FAIRFIELD, CT — A beach area resident is again asking Fairfield University leadership to act after a weekend of St. Patrick’s Day partying left Fairfield Beach littered with cups, cans and bottles.

“This past weekend, hundreds of students flocked from campus to the beach once more for ‘Sham Jam,’ the annual Fairfield University St. Patrick's Day party,” Lucas Scholhamer said in a letter to university President Mark Nemec. “And once again, your students treated Fairfield's prized beaches with complete disrespect, discarding countless cans, bottles, and cups on the sand.”

A photo of the litter, strewn across a beach adorned with a university flag and table, accompanied the letter. Scholhamer’s complaint follows a similar letter sent in December in the wake of students’ SantaCon beach bash.

“Fairfield University works closely with the town of Fairfield, Fairfield police and fire departments, the Fairfield Beach Association and the Lantern Point Association on a number of initiatives including but not limited to the ongoing safety and well-being of our students, and the permanent residents of the town of Fairfield,” Jennifer Anderson, university vice president of marketing and communications, said in a prepared statement. “The university’s Student Beach Resident Association holds regular beach cleanups.”

Leadership from the Fairfield Beach Residents Association shared a similar message of collaboration.

“The Fairfield Beach Residents Association continues to work with our town officials and the university to address issues of concern to our community through the beach advisory group,” association President Carolyn Kamlet said in an email.

Law enforcement received two calls over the weekend about students yelling and causing disturbances in the Lantern Point area, according to Fairfield police Lt. Michael Paris, who noted the department hired officers to work the weekend specifically at the beach area. The students received a warning, Paris said.

Lantern Point hired security and kept the crowd to a minimum at Saturday’s event, according to Brian Russell, director of Lantern Point Association, which oversees the largest off-campus housing facility in the area.

“We have spoken to the kids many times about littering — it’s a difficult task to get them to understand when they’re drinking they should pick up after themselves,” Russell said, noting there was minimal litter in front of Lantern Point after the event, and that a crew arrived Sunday morning to clean it up.

Russell added that while 120 students reside at Lantern Point, many other beach houses are home to hundreds more students in the area, and there were parties Saturday on either side of Lantern Point.

“The students do quite a bit in terms of litter cleanup, just not in the timeframe that residents would like,” Russell said. “We take our responsiblility in the community very seriously and we make great efforts to care for our property and to care for the neighborhood, and our efforts are ongoing to do the best that we can.”