Ever since I decided to come to Ohio University, I've been defending it.
When I first made my choice, I had to explain to friends and family that any school
with students could be a party school.
I've defended the Halloween celebration every year, It's the out-of-towners who come in and get violent.
Then came Dads Weekend. Well it was the
umm dads? Nope, of the 52 arrests, only six were older than 30. Umm out-of-towners? Wrong answer again. This violence, a stabbing, a shooting and countless fights, came from mostly OU students.
Then came the annual sledding down Jeff Hill after Sunday's snowfall. For two days, I walked up and down the hill and seethed. Mattresses, cardboard boxes, laundry baskets and chair backs littered the hill. You lugged the freaking mattress to the hill! You can't lug it back to one of the dumpsters all over this place?!
That's when I knew.
We are whatever they say we are. We don't care about the place we're living in at all. Students get up in a rise when city council wants to impose noise party ordinances or give out littering fines after big parties. But if city council is out to get students
it is only because we earned it. We do throw parties that are way too loud. We do leave our garbage all over the place. And we do get pissed when asked to take care of it, to consider what the people who actually care about this town want.
Outside of the little bubble in which we live, there's this thing called responsibility to the community. If you throw a party, then don't complain when code enforcement officials ask you to clean it up; I don't care if they do knock on your door at 7:30 a.m. If you throw a party, you better be prepared to handle the consequences.
The most pointless exercise in violence and stupidity at OU, if not anywhere, is the time change riot. Why do we riot? Supposedly it's because the man took an hour of drinking time away from the poor students. But if it's that big of a deal, why not just start drinking an hour earlier than normal?
Except it's not really about the drinking. It's a convenient opportunity to be stupid and violent. Some might say they have a right to riot. But rioting is supposed to be a last resort to bring about social, economical or political change. And what about my right to go to a school not known as the place that riots all the time?
So, let me be the first voice, and I hope not the last, to call for an end to the time change riot. I urge student leaders to use what power they have and stand up with me to call for some civic responsibility.
We have the unique opportunity to change the outside, and inside, perception of us. The headlines for that weekend could read, Rioting students burn down Chubb Hall or Expected OU riot doesn't happen
students' behavior calm. The choice now lies with us. We can take the steps needed to act like mature adults or we can be what everyone says we are.
matthew.hutton@ohiou.edu.
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Matt Hutton
