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Universities urge social distancing ahead of big weekend on campus

Local universities are taking social distancing seriously as students return to campus this week.

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — It's the weekend before school starts at Ball State, Purdue and IU. Historically, that means a lot of back-to-school parties off campus.

IU police said they've already gotten at least 10 complaints this week in and around the Bloomington campus about parties where students aren't wearing a mask or social distancing. Some of them appeared in videos on social media.

RELATED: Purdue suspends 36 students for violating mask, social distancing policy; IU puts out warning to students

IU Police Deputy Chief Shannon Bunger said, in at least one case, students were receptive when officers responded.

"They stopped the party and dispersed everybody," Bunger said. "But we did follow up with the students that lived there and the students were referred to the Dean of Students."

Indiana University responded to a video posted to Twitter Thursday that it would investigate and hand down suspensions.

Also Thursday, Purdue University announced it was suspending 36 students for violating a pledge to socially distance and wear a mask at an inside gathering near campus.

IU police said they won't be targeting violators this weekend, but they will continue to respond when called.

"At the end of the day we need our students to do what they signed an agreement to do and that's socially distance, wear a mask and just be responsible young adults," said Bunger.

Ball State

"Our University Police Department has not dispatched any officers in response to complaints of social distancing," said Kathy Wolf, vice president of Marketing & Communications at Ball State.  "We do have officers that proactively address incidents they may come upon during their routine patrol.  This is secondary to other issues our police need to attend to."

Purdue

A Purdue spokesperson said the Purdue University Police Department (PUPD) does not plan to do targeted patrols for social distancing or mask violations.

"This weekend is no different from any other weekend for PUPD," said Tim Doty. "They will patrol as usual while responding to calls for service amongst the other tasks they complete during a shift."

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