Dear Neighbors,

Though you will likely never read this, it needs to be said. With your current campaign to ban parties from the city of Orange in an attempt to "punish" your Chapman neighbors, I think it’s important that you look at this situation from a wider view. I want to start by expressing my condolences for all of the commotion we have caused within your precious and perfect community. It’s clear that us students have just created an unbearable city to live in, but I hope you hear me out anyway.

Banning parties, are you serious? You’re poking a lion, guys; you’re taunting a bear, and it’s time this ridiculousness ceases. Do you understand that in your attempt to ban parties, you’re actually sacrificing the safety of your own community? I can almost guarantee that implementing another rule upon the students of this community will not stop us from partying. Underage drinking is already illegal, yet, it still happens. So what is the benefit of adding another rule that we aren’t going to follow? Parties will still occur, you’ll still have to call the police and file a noise complaint, but now, the aftermath is going to be much worse for you and not us. When you call the police they are now going to have to spend an absurd amount of time giving tickets and misdemeanors to everyone in attendance at the party, occupying them from stopping real crime that is happening in Orange. There is gang violence, there are break-ins, there are medical emergencies, and so much more that will also be happening on Saturday nights, but you are asking the police to worry more about the happening of college students and noise, punishing harmless college students instead of focusing on the real safety of the community. You will be filling your courtrooms with endless amounts of students fighting these tickets and again, distracting the courts and the judges from the important cases.

I’d like you to think back in time a few years or even a few decades to when you were our age, whether you were a college student or not. The vast majority of you probably drank underage and attended social events with your peers whether a college party or your work colleagues or even your high school buddies. Are you trying to do to us what your neighbors did to you, or are you just a self-righteous hypocrite? Adolescence, specifically college, is about figuring life out and enjoying the little time we have left before we join you in the real world. This is our opportunity to decide what asset we are going to be to our future communities and we deserve socialization. Socializing is a huge part of life, as humans we are social creatures, we are at parties to socialize and learn about others while simultaneously learning about ourselves, why is that so bad? We already live under much stricter laws with much harsher punishments that any of you did when you were our age. For the majority of you, the term M.I.P didn’t even exist, you got a slap on the wrist for partying or drinking underage and that’s all it was, no big deal. Maybe your parents found and that was the extent of it. What is the need to make it worse than it already is for us?

We are students, incredible students at that. Chapman is a private institution with high standards for acceptance. We are smart, and we work our tails of every day to keep up with our education and meet the standard of excellence that is expected as a Chapman student. Not to mention, a lot of us are athletes, or musicians, or leaders on campus, we all have a plethora of activities and work outside just the classroom. The reality of it is that we probably work on school related activities more in a week than you work. We deserve a release. Though partying and drinking may not be the best release; the socialization, fun, and relaxing feeling of getting to hang out with your friends is the release we deserve after endless hours spent in the library. We are the future of the world and we are all going to do incredible things that you all will most likely benefit from, so why are you dragging us down rather than supporting us? We already have such a positive impact on this community whether it is our community service through Greek Life, Hosting events for the community, or even by supporting your small business in the circle. We care for this community deeply and work hard to make it a better place to live, so why do you hate that we want to have fun sometimes?

I will admit that not every student at Chapman is perfect, and I am absolutely no exception to that. Yes neighbors, you’ve probably had a bad run in or two with a Chapman student but that encounter should not let you define us as a student body. Take a look at the positive impact we have had and understand that maybe our one flaw is partying. Which, might I add, is a very mild party scene compared to that of most universities. Be the adults here and learn to compromise, make a deal with your student neighbors specifically and more than likely they will be very respectful if you give them some freedom. There is no reason to be so harsh when you could have a simple conversation.

But, in the case that you don’t see it our way, just understand what the incidental repercussions may be. No partying means no need to buy alcohol or cute party clothes from the local grocery stores and small businesses, no need for late night drunchies or hangover brunches in the circle, we’ll eventually stop financially supporting the orange community like we do, and what will you do then? Not to mention, that if this ordinance does end up going through, it doesn’t just apply to students, it applies to the community as a whole. So who knows, maybe your afternoon BBQ’s and late night parties are inhibiting our studying, we might just have to call the police on you then too.

Sincerely,

A Furious Chapman Student and Orange Community Member