After reading the East Lansing city manager's "Noise Reduction Recommendations" to the City Council, I have to admit I am fairly disappointed.
The document is philosophically flawed by blaming all noise problems on a "deeply-seated set of issues involving the culture of some young people in our community."
The city manager's recommendations ignore the reality that East Lansing is a university town and attempt to separate permanent residents' decisions and actions from both problem and solution identification.
Until we, as a community, can admit that all residents - both permanent and student - are a part of any conflict, effective solutions will never be identified or successfully implemented.
To understand how a philosophical flaw leads to practical ineffectiveness, one only has to look at the numbers. Only three of the 14 recommendations actually call for engaging students in a somewhat-positive manner - the remaining 11 isolate students and treat them close to second-class citizens.
None of the 14 recommendations engage permanent residents of East Lansing to take any kind of role - supporting the idea that they have no responsibility in the creation of problems.
Only one of the 14 recommendations asks for city commissions to become involved in the process and that is only to explore the idea of creating "quiet zones" or, in other words, student segregation.
In total, the apparent lack of respect for students is counterproductive in that it promotes an "us vs. them" mentality.
Since the beginning of this fall, ASMSU has taken a lead role in trying to negotiate concerns that exist within the city.
ASMSU, along with many organizations, has created plans of action to bring about positive change that relates to issues ingrained within the culture of a university town - including students and permanent residents of all backgrounds.
In the coming weeks, ASMSU will be creating a more formal response to the city manager's recommendations with praise and objections.
In that review, we will be investigating the costs and benefits for all members of the community; our priority is solving long-term problems and not appeasing irrational short-term complaints.
Matt Weingarden
ASMSU Student Assembly chairperson
