On Feb. 2, Georgetown students received an email from Vice President of Student Affairs Todd Olson about a change to D.C. law. The Disorderly Conduct Amendment Act of 2010, quoted in the email, reads: “It is unlawful for a person to make an unreasonable loud noise between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m. that is likely to annoy or disturb one or more other persons in their residences.”

Understandably, the email neglected to mention that the new law is fundamentally flawed and has enraged Georgetown students. Students acknowledge the need for reasonable noise ordinances in D.C., but they now face a law that promises to discriminate against them.

The problems with the law are plentiful. Firstly, it is too vague. What criteria will the Metropolitan Police Department use to determine what noise is “unreasonable”? As several students have pointed out, someone talking on the phone or Skype to a friend studying abroad at odd hours or a baby crying at night might well be considered in violation of this law. In Burleith, walls are often so thin that neighbors complain when two students stay up watching a movie. No one knows how police will interpret this law, but the penalties involved are severe. Rather than issue 61Ds, already a harsh punishment that appears on your permanent record, police are now instructed to arrest students on the spot, resulting in up to 90 days in jail and/or make them pay $500.

If that wasn’t enough, the new law will without a doubt be used to discriminate against students. Bitter neighbors throughout Georgetown and Burleith can use any excuse to call the police and force them to arrest students based on a vague law. Students who choose to live off-campus deserve the right to have friends over for dinner and let them stay past 10 p.m.

Sometimes, it is Georgetown students who are bothered by neighbors. One student in a video on THE HOYA’S website (“Altered Law Leaves Students on Edge”) shares how she was woken up early in the morning by a crying baby next door. Rather than call MPD, Georgetown students understand that part of living in a city is putting up with some noise. If more neighbors’ maturity matched that of many Georgetown students, we could probably find more constructive solutions.

Apart from discrimination, this law prevents MPD officers from doing their jobs. If police spend all their time responding to claims of “unreasonable” noise, they are forced to neglect their responsibility to protect the community from real crime. Each year, we hear about significant instances of mugging, burglaries and sexual assaults in Georgetown, and yet police are forced to divert more and more resources to arresting undergraduates for minor offenses like noise violations.

Fortunately, Georgetown administrators are not ignorant of the discrimination this law implies. Olson’s recent email urges police to remain “dedicated to their primary purpose of preventing and responding to criminal incidents.” Just as Georgetown supports its students against the unfair implementation of this new law, students should also stand with the administration and fight for the rights they deserve.

Students’ relationships with neighbors have been strained for some time. But students must do their part to be respectful. Fortunately, many have already stepped up to meet neighbors and help clean up streets around Georgetown. Despite their efforts, neighbors forcibly recommend that all students live on campus; some, like Ken Archer, call the community a “student ghetto.” After attending the Advisory Neighborhood Commission meeting on the 2010 campus plan, I discovered that the neighbors will take any opportunity to lambaste students. Rather than sit idly by, students should come together and stand up for their right to live off-campus without fear of being arrested as the result of a vague, discriminatory law.

Some students have already taken up the defense of their rights. Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner Jake Sticka (COL ’13) and the organization D.C. Students Speak have done a great job defending students, and their efforts should be supported in petitions and Facebook groups. By attending meetings, raising awareness and defending themselves, students can affect change in how MPD implements this new law.

Georgetown has been here since 1789, and its students are an integral part of our nation’s capital. Students deserve better than this blatant legal discrimination. Students must advocate for their rights and fight this law until its implementation will not discriminate against them. But it is also important that the entire university community works together on developing ways to maintain a peaceful relationship with Georgetown residents. Perhaps if the relationship is better, there will not be such an instinct to call MPD in the first place.

James Pickens is a junior in the College.

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