We at The Mac Weekly would like to openly address the residents of the Macalester-Groveland community. On Friday, Sept 20, Macalester held its one and only music festival of the fall semester. Unfortunately, the festivities were cut short when residents near campus complained of noise at 8:45 p.m, long before the concert was scheduled to end. Granted, some of Macalester’s own students claimed to be able to hear the music up to a half mile away, but city ordinances dictate that “quiet hours” do not begin until 10 p.m.

We realize that we are not an isolated community and that we need to respect the wishes of those who live in the areas adjacent to campus, but we also feel that the respect should be reciprocated. In comparison to other schools in the area, Macalester seems to be giving more to the community than it is taking away. We do not have issues with campus sprawl; ZAP was not created in response to Macalester-related activities; and a portion of Macalester’s time goes towards maintaining the aesthetics of the area surrounding the campus. Community members are invited to most Macalester events, which promotes cultural understanding and diversity in the area.

The names of the large, noise-producing events at Macalester can be uttered in one breath: Fallfest, Springfest and one or two dances. We are the first to admit that these events disturb the community for a day or a portion of the day, but they are also a source of much-needed on-campus entertainment. We are not purposefully trying to disturb the residents near Macalester; we are trying to have fun on campus. If the former were true, we would completely understand the complaints. However, the bottom line is that we are college students. We like to do college student things. This includes the occasional dance and the occasional Friday evening spent listening to quality music outside on the lawn. Unfortunately, not many of these events have run their course in recent years without encountering complaints from Macalester-Groveland residents.

Macalester has been around since 1874, which means that the people who live near the campus now knew, before moving to the neighborhood, that they would be sharing a space with college students. Because of this, we feel that they should understand and respect our need to play loud music once in awhile. If we want to continue to have a solid relationship with the residents of the community, we need to come to some sort of agreement as to what is acceptable as far as noise levels and complaints about those noise levels. We do not feel that we are being unreasonable in saying that the residents of the Macalester-Groveland community and not Macalester College need to take a step back and consider exactly who they are affecting when they demand an end to the noise at 8:45 on a Friday night. We are members of this community too and want to be treated as such.