By Matt Collette

Often times venues around Northeastern, like afterHOURS, reach full capacity when there is a popular band playing or a dance party hosted.

Students said they get upset when they are turned away at the door at afterHOURS; especially if non-students force the club to reach capacity.

Up until last year, any college student could get into dance parties at afterHOURS and other venues on campus, though anyone attending a concert needed to be a Northeastern student or a guest of one. AfterHOURS has a capacity of 273 students, so when it’s full and people can only be let in as people leave.

A dance party, which was a Welcome Week event aimed toward freshmen and transfer students, reached full capacity within an hour, said Margaret Kamara, Northeatsern African Student Organization (NASO) president.

“We were really surprised at how fast [afterHOURS] reached capacity,” Kamara said. “Some of our e-board members were turned away. I wish we could have some sort of guest list to guarantee that students who worked on an event could get in.”

The old policy allowed anyone to enter dance party events on campus, whereas the new policy requires guests to be signed-in by Northeastern students.

“The reason for the original policy was that student groups weren’t getting high attendance to their dance parties,” said Marina Iannalfo, dean of Campus Life and the administrator responsible for the current afterHOURS guest policy. “This is no longer true, so the policy was changed so that more of our students could enjoy the parties.”

Marques Crosby, a junior computer engineering major, criticized afterHOURS’s guest policies after he was not able to get into a dance party held by NASO.

Kamara also said afterHOURS serves as a good on-campus option for students who are under the age of 21 and have fewer nighttime options in the city.

“NASO did indeed reach capacity, and so did All Time Low. … DJ nights usually reach capacity and almost all national bands have reached capacity,” said Tasha Henderson, assistant director of student activities and the manager of afterHOURS.

However, a relatively low number of students at the NASO event were not Northeastern students.

Eighty-four percent of those in attendance at the NASO event were Northeastern students, while just 16 percent were not, Henderson said.

“If you want to go to afterHOURS and you can’t get in, you’re going to be upset,” said Brian Vinikoor, a middler music industry major. “All the students pay a Student Activities Fee that brings activities to Northeastern. I don’t think it’s fair if half the crowd is not from Northeastern.”

Vinikoor, who last year serve ed as the liaison between the Northeastern chapter of the Music and Entertainment Industry Student Association and afterHOURS, said bigger, more popular events should be for Northeastern students only, but that smaller, less popular events should allow Northeastern students with one other guest.

“I don’t foresee any major changes in admission policy forthcoming,” Henderson said. “I believe we will continue to evaluate events on a case-by-case basis with all the details and then make informed decisions about admission.”

The Circa Survive concert on Sept. 26 will be only for Northeastern students, the first event this year not open to guests.

“When we do have those shows that sell out and people are waiting and capacity is completely full, those are the most intimate concerts,” Vinikoor said. “You won’t get to see Circa Survive in front of a really small crowd in their Boston show. But when Northeastern brings them, you really get to see them up close and personal.”