SOUTH KINGSTOWN — To full-time residents, the numbers presented at last night’s Narragansett/URI Coalition meeting showed that tougher enforcement against partying students is working.

Among the figures: There have been 223 fewer noise complaints this school year compared to last year at this time, and there have been fewer repeat offenses at houses with orange nuisance stickers, according to police figures.

But to University of Rhode Island students, the numbers showed something else: tougher enforcement of a policy that unfairly targets students and was adopted without their input.

As one student pointed out, about the same number of houses have received stickers this year as last year, even though there have been fewer complaints. There had been 71 stickers issued last year at this time, versus 74 this year, according to police figures.

The meeting, held in the Memorial Union building on URI’s Kingston campus, included spirited exchanges as Narragansett officials explained their actions to deal with student parties and students fired back, one questioning why the town puts orange stickers on houses deemed to be a public nuisance when it doesn’t take such steps with convicted sex offenders.

“If I had small kids, I’d rather be completely surrounded by partying kids than one child molester,” said Michael Spatcher, a sophomore who acknowledged that his house in Narragansett has an orange nuisance sticker.

Spatcher’s argument did not seem to impress Police Chief Joseph T. Little Jr., who declined to compare partying students with sex offenders but said excess drinking can lead to other serious problems, such as rape.

Little also said students need to understand that the town and the university are trying to prevent tragedies involving students.

He mentioned the 2006 incident in which three URI students died after rowing out onto Narragansett Bay at night in a small boat. The police later determined that the students had been drinking.

He also mentioned the April 6 pedestrian accident that killed a 19-year-old URI student and injured another, though he declined to comment on the findings in that investigation. The police have said that the two women were either leaving or walking to a party.

“We’re trying to do our part not to have people die,” he said.

Leslie K. Williams, assistant director for student life and a co-chair of the commission, presented figures from URI, saying the university had contacted 327 students this school year about off-campus behavior, investigated 178 of those cases and taken action in 86 of them. When asked, she said that four students had been suspended.

Narragansett Town Manager Jeffry Ceasrine said during a short presentation that the nuisance ordinance is one way of dealing with the fact that the town has many rental units — 2,200 according to the official town count — and can do very little to regulate them. He concluded by saying that the real issue is not housing but behavior.

“I think it is the University of Rhode Island’s job to educate students about what is acceptable,” he said.

The ordinance posts the stickers for the entire school year and calls for fines and community service for repeat offenses while a sticker is posted.

Thomas R. Ahrens, a coalition member and a member of the URI Student Senate, said afterward that students have been talking with the Rhode Island affiliate of the American Civil Liberties Union about challenging the nuisance ordinance in court.

He also said the reduced number of complaints this year, combined with a similar number of stickers being issued, shows tougher enforcement, but Little there have been fewer complaints because the police have targeted underage drinkers wandering about when parties end, thus reducing calls from residents.

About 40 people attended the two-hour meeting. Shane Lee, a sophomore and Student Senate member, said students need to take a look at their behavior and see what they can do differently.

redgar@projo.com