JMU Students Face Expulsion for Gatherings during Pandemic

HARRISONBURG - JMU’s Vice President of Student Affairs warned students of the consequences of throwing large gatherings during the COVID-19 pandemic at the Harrisonburg city council meeting on Tuesday.

As Harrisonburg continues through the COVID-19 pandemic, case numbers rose which brought concern to council representatives for the Harrisonburg community. The council invited James Madison’s President, Jonathan Alger, and VP of Student Affairs, Tim Miller, to talk about their students and their plan to lower case numbers at the university and in the community.

JMU committed to taking student-held large gatherings, breaking COVID-19 regulations on and off-campus, very seriously. Breaking these regulations can result in students facing probation, suspension, or even expulsion from the university.          

“We have notified 290 students of violations so far this semester,” Miller said.

Ordinances placed by Harrisonburg Mayor Deanna R. Reed took effect Wednesday, Aug. 12. These ordinances limited gatherings of over 50 people in Harrisonburg; since they went into effect, they have decreased the amounts of large gatherings seen by the local police department.

With the ordinances, Harrisonburg has seen more “smaller pocket parties” over large events Miller said. Students signed an agreement to follow university and city rules coming into the fall semester. This led to 24 students having their housing exemption rescinded for hosting “pocket parties” in their on-campus residences.

“All of us, EMU, JMU, we all want to be good partners with the city and community every step of the way,” Alger said.

Both Chief Gabriel Camacho and Chief Eric English of the Harrisonburg Police Department have Miller’s personal cell phone number to notify Miller of large student gatherings which could be valuable for him to attend.

“We will continue to stay in touch with both of the [Harrisonburg Police Department Chiefs] as well as the rest of university leadership on a weekly basis,” said Miller.

With constant communication between the university and the Harrisonburg Fire and Police Department, JMU officials are working to see through the lenses of city officers and take proper action in expressing the discontent of the misbehaving students.

JMU has been “very transparent” with local law enforcement and Harrisonburg officials regarding COVID-19 and JMU’s case numbers, Reed said. This is because of the “very high expectations” JMU has for its students to protect the Harrisonburg community, Miller said. 

As the pandemic progresses, JMU will continue to issue sanctions to students breaking rules to keep the Harrisonburg community safe and healthy. Students breaking city and university rules subject themselves to due process and could be penalized for their behavior endangering the community. These processes will conclude in the following week and university officials will continue to monitor student behavior throughout the rest of the semester.

“The only way out of this is by working together and in our community, that is really important,” Alger said.

*This article was written for a News Reporting and Writing class in the Spring of 2021 from a recording of the Harrisonburg City Council Meeting on September 22, 2020.