A pair of young women kneel together on the sidewalk, taping together a collection of torn-up boxes into a house of sorts and laughing at their handiwork.

A short distance away, another resident sleeps on unaware of his neighbors, his colorful socked feet poking out of the entrance of his own cardboard home. Leaning just beside him, a battered and weather-beaten sign invites visitors to stop by and participate in a movement known as Box City, which was held last Thursday night.

Although living in cardboard houses might seem like a last resort, the practice is just a method of protest at Rowan University. Sponsored by the Students for a Sensible Drug Policy club at Rowan, Box City participants sleep outside in cardboard boxes in order to protest a drug policy that participants argue leaves affected students essentially homeless.

"This whole event is our students standing in solidarity with students who have gotten evicted," said Lisa Tischio, president of Students for a Sensible Drug Policy club at Rowan University. "We are saying that what the university is doing when evicting students is essentially leaving them homeless, so we're sleeping outside in solidarity with them."

The protest, which was first held in 2010, began in objection to the current drug policy on campus, where students could potentially be evicted from on-campus housing due to a first time drug offense.

"Whenever a student living here at Rowan is caught with any illegal substance they are usually removed from housing right away," said Tischio. "[The University] will have a cop come in and the student will have to get all their things and move out of the room at the time they are caught."

According to Joe Cardona, vice president of University Relations at Rowan University, this eviction policy is a part of Rowan's zero tolerance drug policy.

"Students can find all of the information about the university's drug policy in the student handbook," said Cardona. "It clearly states the level of punishment for each type of crime including drug possession or use in on-campus housing."

Though the policy seems straightforward in its zero-tolerance approach to drug abuse, many students believe that the methods of carrying out such evictions are unnecessarily harsh.

"Evictions have happened to people at 2 in the morning," said Tischio. "Basically the policy is to get the student off of campus."

According to Cardona, an evicted student is asked to contact their parents for assistance in the event of a removal from housing.

"Students being evicted are encouraged to call parents to be picked up," said Cardona. "If students have nowhere to go, arrangements are made for the student, or they might go stay with a friend. Where these students go depends on the situation with each individual student."

In the last year alone, 27 drug-related arrests were made in on-campus facilities marking an increase from just 19 arrests in 2012, according to Rowan University's annual security reports. The increase is due in part to students arriving on campus with pre-existing drug problems, Cardona said.

"Statistically, we have been getting more and more students come to us that already have substance abuse problems, and some of them reach out to us for help as soon as they arrive on campus," said Cardona. "They still have to pay the penalty if they're caught, but these students are given the opportunity to get the help they need as soon as they get to Rowan."

While some people got involved with Box City out of concern for displaced student's personal safety, others joined to petition for mandatory counseling and treatment for drug offenders rather than eviction.

"The university should be focusing on student health," said SSDP Senator Pat Oehme. "For drugs, the university should be concerned more with helping students to treat their addictions. We should have a policy that makes sense based on each situation with the goal of reducing harm to everyone involved."

"Students going to college here shouldn't get evicted on their first offense," said Gabrielle Costa, an 18-year-old Early Childhood Education major at Rowan University. "We can't just kick these people out, we need to help them."

Currently Rowan University offers treatment options and counseling to members of the student body affected by or addicted to drugs or other illegal substances.

"We have exhaustive resources for students with any kind of issues, including drug and alcohol use," said Cardona. "We have tons of support systems for students struggling with addictions."

Currently, students who are evicted from housing are also barred from participating in any extra-curricular activities and are banned from visiting any on-campus residences. These students are allowed to continue attending classes at the university.

Even though students are allowed to continue their education at Rowan, members of Students for a Sensible Drug Policy argue that evicted individuals are effectively shut out of the college community. Protests such as Box City are hoping to change that.

"We really try to work to change our drug policy here at Rowan and this is an event we use to bring awareness to the dorm eviction policy," said Tischio. "Every year we've had hundreds of students sign a petition saying they oppose the dorm eviction policy for first-time drug offenses and every year we bring the signed petitions to the Dean of Students but so far nothing has come out of it."

Opposition to a policy change has not come from just the administration. According to Oehme, many students on campus do not agree with a change in the university drug policy, making demonstrations such as Box City crucial to educating the public about drug evictions on campus.

"A lot of students who oppose us think that because it's the rule we should just go along with it rather than actually trying to make the rules fair," said Oehme. "Students sometimes unquestioningly support the university policy because it's easier."

According to Tischio, members of the Students for a Sensible Drug Policy club have met with Rowan University administration several times to discuss the policy, but no changes have been made.

"We want a new policy that prioritizes treatment and education over punishment," said Tischio. "The policy needs to protect our students and take into account the fact that drug abuse is a huge issue and simple punishment won't solve the problem."