The rioting is ridiculous and must stop. Sound familiar? Any of you who attended this university last year and didn’t live under a rock would agree. Anyone who has read The Lantern in the past week would agree also. So why am I being redundant? Because it still seems necessary.
Some of us still haven’t learned. These few are spoiling it for the rest of us simply because they think it’s cool to get tear gassed. I never have been, but from what I have heard it hurts and it’s not cool at all. And for the past few years it has meant that the police had to resort to drastic crowd-control measures because of a few drunken idiots.
Are we proud of the fact that we can’t handle ourselves as a large-group? Is it really fun to watch the reputation of Ohio State and its student body go down the drain?
I agree it sucks Campus Partners has closed most of our bars. It sucks that the cops congregate in packs on all corners during the early afternoon every weekend. But these excuses are tired and don’t hold much water. We can’t bring the bars back, at least not overnight. And if we could all take a step back from the “they’re out to get us” attitude about police officers, we would realize that they are people who are just doing their jobs. And their job is to keep all citizens and the streets as safe as they can. Past behavior has demonstrated to them time and time again that large groups of students on campus turn violent. It is their job to be there. What kind of police would they be if they turned a blind eye?
It is easy to forget when living on a campus as large as this one that we are still part of a city. OSU may seem to be its own community, but this is a residential area. A college ID does not give anyone the right to throw bottles, assault others and cause mayhem. I can’t speak for all of you but I know if I attempted to throw a kegger at my parents’ house the cops would break it up within minutes, especially if we were in the street. Living where we do does not equal a free “party all the time and a do whatever you want wherever you want” pass.
It can seem cops get down harder on younger people. They followed us at the mall when we were 13. They pulled us over when we were 16. And now they’re ruining our fun. I don’t dispute the fact that a huge block party with lots of kegs and hundreds of people is fun. But somewhere along the line, “party” and “riot” have become synonymous.
The few idiots who think it’s fun to egg on the cops are ruining the partying the rest of us would like to do. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out we have given the police reason upon reason to keep a close eye on our parties.
The bottom line is this: everyone knows college kids party. The police don’t expect us to stop. But things have gone entirely too far. We are facing stricter and stricter limitations every time. Remember when they cracked down on any and all lawn parties? Was that fun? Do we want that to happen again?
We’re heading down that road, but the power to stop lies in our own hands. Don’t be dumb. Don’t throw bottles at anyone. People are getting hurt, and it’s only getting worse every weekend. The police will not give up on us if we continue to act this way. It has become a vicious cycle. It’s tough to say who started it but it’s up to us to end it. I urge you all to please act responsibly this weekend.
Becky Gromek is a senior in comparative studies. She can be reached for comment at [email protected].
