We get it, GVSU Police Department: You do not like it when we party. Well, I have a message for you, and I’m sure that a good deal of the student population will agree with me: We are not going to stop partying. Even with your oversized grants that allow you to crack down on us, the ludicrous amount of MIP’s given out and notions that you are doing us a favor, your efforts are futile. Undergraduates study endlessly, write papers non-stop, participate in grueling group projects, and at the end of the week the only thing we really care about is to crack open that can of Bud Light.

GVSU police try to remind us, through their ominous presence every weekend and the occasional Lanthorn article, that this is a university and we are here to get an education. Duh! They don’t have to tell us twice. We are the ones toiling week in and week out. Yes, I understand that underage drinking is illegal, that drunk driving is illegal and that the cops are merely doing their jobs to keep us safe.

However, and correct me if I’m wrong, aren’t the chances of someone driving intoxicated greatly increased while they are attempting to make a getaway to avoid getting “mipped”? Show me someone who doesn’t have a MIP, and I’ll show you two of their friends who do. Besides, who’s driving to parties anyway? Most of the apartment complexes are in walking distance from each other. And if a student does dare to drive, good luck to them finding a parking space and avoid getting a neon orange “BOOTED” sticker on their window. Even when I’m in my own apartment with six of my sober friends, I get a keen feeling that either security or the cops will come knocking on my door at 1 a.m. saying my music is disturbing the turkey farm down the road. Color me paranoid and I’ll color you a recluse.

I’m sorry GVSU police, but we are in college. People party in college. It’s basically part of the American dream. Good luck trying to convince us to be unpatriotic. I’m not stupid; I know there are reasons for the law. But honestly, the extent to which those laws are carried out here on campus is disheartening. I’m so happy our tuition dollars are going towards cops who make us feel like we are living in Nazi occupied France … not.

Erika Witherspoon

GVSU student