Community: Policing ourselves

Somewhere between our supposed criminal reputation from the Prince George's County riot squad and the foolish ne'er-do-wells we all aspire to be lies a small group of people who see us clearly and without fault.

You may not notice them, but there is a non-student resident populous who calls our playground home. They are the university faculty, young families and older couples who know this town better than any of us smart-ass students. These brave souls, the normal contributors of society, understand what it means to live in a college town. It takes patience, tolerance and an ability to see public vomiting as a way of giving back to nature. Well, sort of.

Be thankful — without these folks, College Park would have a lot more in common with Folsom State Prison than we'd like to admit.

Last week, my housemates and I created quite the stir in our quaint neighborhood, and I say this lightly. Having received minor complaints in the past, this particular night went a little too far. Rather than calling the bacon squad on our hides, a concerned neighbor decided to confront the situation civilly, unlike the pre-emptive strike from our friends in the riot squad.

To correct any future disturbances, he spoke with us in person about the issue. Keep in mind, this wasn't a lecture or anything close to a disciplinary beatdown, but it was a reasonable conversation between people of two different lifestyles that eventually spurred a sound solution: no cops.

After a simple exchange of phone numbers and an agreement to kick it down a notch, we carried on like the suburbanites we are. Before you erupt with anarchist praise over a zero-cop society, it's important to know that this arrangement still would have involved the local authorities, but only as a last resort. Put simply, if we cannot control the situation, they will.

Witnessing the civility of our surrounding non-student neighbors threw me for a loop. For a while, I was convinced the city paid them to hate us, but this is far from the truth. We are college students and many of them choose to respect that.

However, deals such as this require commitment on both ends. These residents are regular people, and we would be wise to respect them. Failure to do so results in a clear disobedience with residential conduct, and it presents you as the kind of person who might never own a home. 

Living next to the campus has its perks. Actually, it might be the best arrangement you could ask for. But without a resident assistant stalking your shadow, actions must be kept in check. We're lucky to have such great neighbors and even luckier to have friends who respect their requests.

Besides, we're putting the foot down on creepy party wreckers. The blame is never pointed at them, but every party has the shady characters nobody knows, who drink silently in the corner until they get the urge to break something.

I'm sorry, but from here on out, we only allow cool people.

If you feel left out, go start a senseless riot — unless we won a big game.

Jason Kramer is a junior American studies major. He can be reached at kramer at umdbk dot com.