Stricter noise violation penalties, tailgating restrictions, open-alcohol bans, and now an amendment to help restrict outdoor drinking games? What's next, 12 a.m. curfew?

In response to "City Council targets drinking games, noise" (SN 10/5), I have just one question: What in the world did MSU and the city think would happen when making all these previous ordinances?

According to East Lansing City Manager Ted Stanton, the city is receiving "an explosion of complaints." It seems interesting to me that this "explosion" comes during the first fall semester after the new tailgating rules were instated. At tailgate, all of these games were confined into one space, but now students have moved their fun and games elsewhere. Students were bummed that drinking games were outlawed at places like the tennis courts and the rock on Farm Lane.

But hey, we students are a resilient bunch. I'm sure students started thinking, "Well, it's too bad, but surely, I can just bring my friends over to my house and we can have a nice rousing game of beer pong before the game." Wrong.

Now, I'm not just making these comments because I don't want to be slapped with a $1,000 fine. I actually live on campus, so this restriction would not even apply to me. It just seems that every day I read about a new way that the city or MSU is trying to rein in my fellow students and me.

I'm all for being responsible when drinking and respecting the neighborhoods, but this is a college town. I don't know if I can even take it anymore. If I read or hear about MSU or the city taking away anymore student freedoms, I think I might just flip my cup. Oops, I mean lid.

Kristin Morin
journalism and German senior