If you want to convince someone that Ohio University is not a party school, don't give them a tour of the campus on a Saturday night. Thursday nights also might be a bad idea. Just to be safe, avoid Tuesday nights as well. Around Fest season, any night might not be safe.
This is because these nights are where you'll spot the drunken students stumbling back from bars, or stumbling up hill to the bars. And even if you don't see them, you'll definitely hear them. I can count on one hand the number of nights where I didn't hear someone outside of my dorm drunkenly yelling to friends.
The issue here is this: do the police in Athens have the right to put a stop to loud partying? The current noise ordinances have been a source of controversy, because they give officers the right to issue citations to anyone they think is making a disruptive amount of noise without having to issue warnings or receive a certain amount of complaints from neighbors.
The Know Noise Task Force is a group of students who feel that the current noise ordinances are unfair and should be returned to their original incarnation, and have even proposed an amendment that would do so. Their argument is that if no one is complaining about the noise, it is a victimless crime that doesn't require police action.
It's tough to say where I stand on this issue. On one hand, giving tickets to someone who has received no complaints hardly seems fair: if it was truly noise pollution, someone would complain about it. Not to mention live bands at festivals possibly being shut down without warning if police think they're "too loud". Imagine paying the exorbitant ticket prices to see one of these fests, but it gets cut short because they were playing too loud.
On the other hand, I have had more than a few interrupted study sessions in my dorm because someone is playing music way too loud. Hiking up to the library in the cold just to get some peace and quiet for studying is not cool. We'll see what happens with noise law in Athens in the future. In the meantime, I'll keep enjoying the drunken ramblings I hear outside of my dorm on every day that ends with the letter 'y'.
Works Cited:
Fox, Joe. "The Post." The Post. N.p., 4 Mar 2011. Web. 4 May 2011. <http://www.thepost.ohiou.edu/content/new-task-force-challenge-noise-rules>.
"Police chief slams proposed noise law." Post 8 Mar 2011,
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