First, they went after partying on and off campus, imposing party noise ordinances that can slap students with hefty fines.

Now, they want the outdoor beer pong tables.

The East Lansing City Council is looking at adding outdoor drinking games as one of the indicators that can get people a party noise violation.

The current indicators include having a common source of alcohol, a live band or other live entertainment, charging for alcohol or entrance into the party, having more than one person for every 20 square feet and having speakers placed or directed outdoors. Have any two of these and people can face a $1,000 fine.

City officials claim they want to reduce noise and make neighborhoods a better place to live. Which seems somewhat plausible.

No one likes the drunks screaming in the middle of the night because they just won a round of flip cup.

But there is not enough concrete evidence that adding outdoor drinking games to the list of party noise indicators is going to make parties quieter. Adding drinking games to the list will only give police one more reason to ticket students and collect that $1,000.

Sure, adding drinking games might make it easier to spot a noise ordinance violation, but it's not too hard to spot them now. With the indicators in existence, finding violations just might take a little effort.

Police officers might have to do some math to figure out if there are too many people at the party and they might even have to walk around to see if people are being charged for beer. It's not hard.

But if a party is disruptive, shouldn't it be obvious?

The party noise ordinance is already ridiculous and has helped to elevate tension between students and permanent residents. Changing the ordinance is only going to make the tension worse. It's not going to comletley stop students from partying.

Where there's a front yard and a desire to get drunk, people will play beer pong or some other game. Students can be quite resourceful.

There are probably even drinking games that people could make up that wouldn't cause noise and attract the city's attention.

How about silent beer pong, where you have to drink if you make any noise while playing?

People would still be drinking and there wouldn't be any noise. Of course, with the presence of another indicator, the city could still issue a ticket and get their money — for a noise violation.

The city has heard from two commissions, including the University Student Commission, both of which did not voice strong support for changing the ordinance. Probably because they know what we know.

East Lansing will not get rid of parties and noise by changing the ordinance.

What East Lansing probably will get is more tickets, more money and more angry students.

And that's not going to help anyone.