Learn some facts and do some research before you compare law enforcement to Nazis. A good example would be to compare schools and public information lets look at crime stats from MSU in 2007 (most recent year available) 745 citations were given with a student enrollment of 46,000. GVSU that same year had about half the amount of students with 22.309 and gave out 1/4 the amount of MIPS 183. I’m sure you’re not intelligent enough to do that math but let me break this down that means that 1.6% of MSU students received citations by Michigan State Police Department for a liquor offense and 0.8% of GVSU students received citations by GVPD…. So is GVPD out to get people or are they just doing their job as every other University? If you don’t like it here leave but the numbers show you are more likely to get an MIP at Michigan State!

So drinking to you is the American dream? Looks like ill be working hard to support you on welfare, since owning a home, having a job, and a family is not your American dream. Plus, dont give the excuse of oh if you dont give MIP’s we wont drive drunk. BS 98% of people i have seen at parties drive no matter how drunk they are, 1% sober up, and the other 1% dont even know who they are. Don’t act like it is not illegal to drink underage, as minor of an offense you think it is, many lives are lost every year from underage drinking

I didn’t know they gave out MIPS at the holocaust?!!!

You make a lot of generalizations here. You assume that it’s just the cops that are out to get you, and the students all agree with your perspective. This is wrong.

I am a current student who lives off campus, and I happen to have terrible neighbors this year. I call the cops on them whenever they decide to blast their music at 2 am and start running around outside screaming obscenities. There are some of us who are actually trying to achieve that “American Dream” and have jobs and homework… we don’t need to be kept up all hours of the night because you morons don’t have any better way to relax than to numb yourself.

Go ahead and crack open that Bud Light if you need to. If you aren’t rude jerks about your parties, I’m sure that you’ll find the cops to be much less of a concern.

“Duh!”

I love the reference to the “ludicrous amount of MIP’s given out.” As though the police were out of line. The police, and not the ludicrous amount of ludicrous students. XD

“Duh!”

Well, we obviously have a problem at GVSU. The police here are ridiculous. They question people walking around with a backpack on at night. The police should have more important things to worry about than trying to bust a person who has had 2 or 3 beers and is walking back to their dorm. M.I.P.‘s have ruined my friends lives and i hope police officers think about that when they are scavenging around GVSU looking for underage students who are drinking. Yes, students make mistakes and partake in illegal activities, but are they hurting anybody? Drunk driving is understandable, but just walking back to the dorm or to their apartment? It is not just the fact that the police are busting everyone it is their attitudes. They treat the situation like it was a murder or rape. They are disrespectful, rude, and act like they are better than you. The police are supposed to protect the public and not ridicule them. The police need to realize that by acting that way, that reflects on their department and their role as a police officer.

“M.I.P.‘s have ruined my friends lives.”

And this is the police’s fault? No. Your FRIENDS have ruined their own lives. It is not the fault of the police for doing that which they are legally (and in my opinion, ethically) obligated to do.

I can’t believe that sentence. What next? “Grand theft autos have ruined my friends’ lives.” Don’t the police know that people have no control over their actions? How dare they punish those poor college students for something which they obviously could not control. XD

best article ive ever read, hands down. i didnt realize i was signing up for bible school when i committed to gvsu. and “factual person,” i believe what the author was referring to was the ridiculousness of mips here. if you have 5 kids drinking in the dorms and get busted by an RA, here its an automatic MIP, state or anywhere sane its a slap on the wrist. state may have a higher percentage of MIPs but these are HUGE parties that get busted with tons of kids doing stupid stuff, or individuals being idiots doing stuff that deserves an MIP. at state, western, msu, etc. for the most part if you arent hurting anyone or being outrageous youll be fine at state. here, a “party” of 15 kids will be busted no problem and everyone will be auto-mipped. my friend was at a party the other week with 12 kids, music low, and the cops came and handed everyone there an MIP. the difference is here it seems like the cops are really out to get you, to the extent its as if their main priority is busting parties and handing out as many MIPs as possible. at state or anywhere else the cops only give them out if youre being ridiculous, danger, drunk driving or something along those lines. basically, at state the cops are there TO SERVE AND PROTECT YOU, not screw you over for being in college. its seriously a joke to have 10 friends over and have to be super paranoid, knowing that your friends at state are at a rager and the cops dont care so long as no one is being crazy or going to get hurt.

Erika- until you turn 21 you do not have the legal right to drink alcohol. Period. Don’t blame the police for doing their job and enforcing a law that is meant to protect immature students such as yourself. Don’t get it confused. There are plenty of college students who can enjoy their weekends without getting drunk. You have generalized an entire student body based on the actions you and a small group of your friends engage in. I know others have already stated this but it is completely ridiculous and offensive to compare you being busted for underage drinking to the Holocaust. And the “American Dream,” please. Next time think before you draw such idiotic conclusions. You have given journalism a bad name using this paper as your own public whining session. Do the public and favor and give up any dream you have of entering the field of journalism. Shame of the Lanthorn for even printing this garbage.

Can we please stop referring to this as an article? This was a letter to the editor written by someone outside of the Lanthorn. It has nothing to do with the Lanthorn, journalism or articles in general. You’d think that a journalism major would know that, right?

…I still can’t believe that you compared GVSU to Nazi occupied France. MIP or gas chamber…you make the decision.

Let me preface this with one thing: I agree with the author on the initial point…GVSU/Allendale police are absolutely ridiculous when it comes to punishing for drinking. Having both attended and been a guest at other schools that are known as “party” schools, GVSU is in the minor leagues. A GVSU party will rarely get anywhere close to out of control because everybody is so terrified of the police coming. Talk to me when GVSU police start lobbing tear gas canisters into crowds during your welcome week.

Now, having said that, this article was awful. I truly hope that this Erika girl is not pursuing her degree in any field where she will ever have to write a thing…ever. I understand that this is an editorial and it is supposed to be approached with a more casual feel, so as to put the audience at ease and make your potentially high-risk topic a little easier to swallow but this was bad. Whether or not this was an actual letter to Allendale/GVSU police, you have done the entire body an extreme disservice. The only thing you have ensured is that they will continue what they are doing, as it is working well enough to compel you to write this article. And even if it isn’t an actual letter, guess what…it’s now posted in their meeting rooms, tacked up on cork boards, and discussed with humorous and mocking undertones. Erika, you failed miserably in this article. To be honest, you would have had more success appealing to your audience as an adult speaking to other adults about this topic in a mature manner. Instead, you fired off some BS about how binge drinking is part of the American Dream. I must have missed that in my government class. “Why did the colonists declare their independence?” “Ooh, ooh, I know! A longing to free themselves from a tyrannical crown, to set up a democratic republic government, and to solidify their freedom to drink excessively on Friday and Saturday!” What?! Please tell me that you were high when this was written. At least it would explain what the hell you were thinking…

Hey Sanity…guessing from your comment you are a 17 year old freshman who just got yet another MIP. Of course the first one was the cops fault our your parents got the blame in court. Now you keep doing something illegal and get caught again and once again its someone elses fault. Plus you say that this is the best article that you have ever read?!? You must only read the huffington post if you think this is good

Lets be honest for a second. Most of the people commentating that are bashing this article probably aren’t people who party, and my guess is they’re probably pretty lame and just sit in their rooms all day. The fact is, this article needed to be posted because it portrays what ALOT of students here think and how many people fear the police here in the first place. $20,000 grants to do foot patrols during welcome week and MIP everything in their sights? I’m not speaking out of bias here since I don’t have an MIP, but I’ve seen Ottawa County and DPS go SWAT team style on an apartment (block out both the front and back doors with 4 officers) and give MIP’s to a “party” that had maybe 10-15 people in it. Are you serious? I feel that is not what the law should be used for, since it is a misdemeanor and will screw you over if you are a CJ, education, or BMS major. Yes, drinking is illegal if under 21. But when people are being responsible about it, law enforcement should take that into account, but it rarely happens. Knowing someone that got an MIP literally 2 weeks before their 21st birthday, I can honestly say that exceptions and warnings from Ottawa County or DPS are rare. I feel most people are either one way or the other when it comes to this article.

Hahaha Bad writing. M.I.P.s are definately the same thing as GTA, your right. And murder is the same as stealing a candy bar. And ethically right? What is wrong with you? Drinking is legal as a 21 year old. If you are doing something that is going to be legal for you in 2 or 3 years it should not be treated as a punishable by life in prison crime. The police here are simply not doing their job, they are hunting down and looking for people who are underage drinking. Who are they trying to protect? The sober people studying in their dorms at 2 A.M. on a friday night? And yes, M.I.P.‘s have ruined my friends lives. Some are getting pulled out of college or won’t be able to get their job of choice now, because of what a few beers? It is their choice to do so, but who hasn’t? Wouldn’t you want the police to be leniant with you if you made a mistake? I guess not. The police here are disrespectful, still no one has touched on that. What gives them the right to act in that way? Im sure no one wants to be treated like dirt, but i guess its okay for them to do so because they are protecting so many people by giving out M.I.P.‘s. And i still do not understand why everyone is ripping on Erika for speaking the mind of many students at GVSU.

Yes, underage drinking is illegal, Yes, this article is poorly written in its aspects to underage drinking and drinking in general. I agree with most people on here in saying that this article is a bit out of hand. However, it does have some merit. As a 21 year old and a witness to a recent “encounter” with Ottawa County Sheriff I really wish this story was short enough to put on here, but it is not. I am in no way relating my comment on GVSU DPS however, since I believe they are the “good guys” in most accounts. The Ottawa County sheriff in my opinion treats MIPS of GVSU students as an assembly line. Its drink, MIP, Judge Post, GIVE US YOUR MONEY. My very good friends recently experienced this very mechanical process. As a 21 year old with no MIP and no negative cop experience at GV in the 2 and some change years of attending and partying at this school, I am sickened by the misuse of laws by the Ottawa County Sheriff that I witnessed tonight. Sickened enough that it reminded me of this article and how much I originally disagreed with it until tonight.

Me: all of your assumptions are false. im actually a 20 year old sophomore with no MIPS, wanna know why? cause i go to other, non-absurd college for my partying. i went to state for halloween this past weekend, a place where you can chug a beer in front of a cop and as long as you arent being crazy, dangerous, or driving drunk they wont care. because they know they are there to SERVE AND PROTECT you. i had a wild time, was at 2 parties that got busted and guess what? the cops just told kids to leave at both of them. no one got mipped, not even the underage house owners. the only person i know who got mipped was a guy peeing in the middle of the street, aka doing something dumb that deserved one.

and to everyone freaking out because of the nazi reference, its called hyperbole, its used for dramatic effect. also, everyone keeps ripping her apart for generalizing and claiming to represent all the students, which she never does. if you actually read the article she says “a good deal of the student population will agree with me.” and guess what, the vast majority of the student body i know does agree with this. just because you dont doesnt mean she was claiming to represent your views, just a good portion of the population. which she aptly does.

Stan nailed it right on the head. Literally could not agree more with everything you said

logical person and stan are right on the money. 100%

Students at GVSU are already great by getting into a harder school like GV so give them a break. They are showing you there respnosibilty of school. Everyone has heard that colleges have party. So GVSU if you want gvsu to grow and go big DON“T BE SO STRICT BECAUSE THAT IS WHY MOST STUDENTS DON“T WANT TO GO HERE!!!! I have a 4.0 at gvsu as a freshmen so don’t think I’m an uneducated person. And I’m transferring to some other college this spring becaause everyone departs gvsu on the weekends because they all want to go somwhere else to party.

You people knew what you were getting when coming to GVSU. It is a school known for being strict on drinking. If you want to go to a school to party every weekend, go to a party school.