Mount Pleasant Police Department performs regular rounds through the parking lot of Wayside Central on "Pint Night", 2000 South Mission Street, Mount Pleasant, MI, April 21, 2015. The rounds may require leaving the patrol car to speak with students and residents. Photos | Amanda Snyder
Noise and nuisances
Every college town has problems with nuisances, but Mount Pleasant, Michigan defines them in a different way.
By Amanda Snyder
Nuisance party ordinances are unique to Mount Pleasant, and the campus of Central Michigan University. Other cities, like Grand Rapids and Detroit, have ordinances regarding noise levels, but none directly refer to a loud, out of control party, as a “nuisance gathering”.
Because of the fact that most students who move to Mount Pleasant to attend college have no prior knowledge of the nuisance ordinances, the police department likes to provide outlets to obtain information.
“Most people know and understand the ordinances because of our use of the media. We also gets out information through Residence Life, Greek life etc. We direct residents where to go in order to find the information,” Mount Pleasant Police Officer, Jeff Browne, said.
The ordinances regarding noise and nuisance gatherings are laid out in the Mount Pleasant City Code for those who do not know the information already.
Section 96.03 of the code says that playing a radio, TV, or musical instrument at a volume that annoys or disturbs the peace and quiet of nearby people is prohibited. It also states that whistling and shouting that disturbs the peace is prohibited.
The other section regarding nuisance gatherings specifies that a party within city limit where drinking or possession of alcohol, possession of a controlled substance, fights, or noise that is audible 50 feet from the property line is prohibited.
“We tend to get more calls and complaints about the noise of a party, but the noise and size of a party often go hand in hand. Twenty-five people with music play could be as loud as 100 people without any music playing,” Browne said.
The legal repercussions for a nuisance gathering violation are laid out in Chapter 96.99. For the first violation, there is a fine of $50, $100 for the second, and upwards of $250 for a third violation and beyond.
“We write tickets, but we do not write a lot of tickets,” Browne said.
Comparing the codes
In the city of Grand Rapids, a nuisance noise violation is defined as a “sound twenty times the logarithm of the base pressure of the reference sound”. It is also “loud, unnecessary, unnatural or unusual noises”. In Detroit, it is “unlawful for a sound to be audible more than 50 feet from the source”.
In the Grand Rapids municipal code, it is not explicitly state what the repercussions are for a noise violation. However, it is as thorough on listing each type of noise or decibel level that is prohibited.
In contrast, the consequences in the city of Detroit are explicitly stated.
A person who violates Chapter 36 of the Detroit Municipal Code concerning noise is guilty of a misdemeanor for each violation, and can be fined up to $500.
According to Lieutenant David Scott, the Wayne State University police do not try to interfere with students who are partying or making a lot of noise unless it is absolutely necessary.
“Students think that it is their right to get drunk in college, and I really don’t care. I know what it’s like to be a college student – I don’t want a police state. I just don’t want anyone to die because they did something stupid,” Scott said.
In other college towns, like those of Ann Arbor, and East Lansing, there are different variations of nuisance ordinances simply because of the incredibly large population in each location.
Chapter 106 of the Ann Arbor Municipal Code defines nuisance violations as things like graffiti on public property, abandoning refrigerators, and leaving trash and “rubbish” on the exterior of property.
Not once in the definition of a nuisance in Ann Arbor are parties or party size mentioned. One section of the code does mention that a person shall not consume alcohol in the parking lot of a drive-in restaurant, but otherwise, the phrase “nuisance violation” is reserved for that of destructions of public property.
Explanations of noise violations and disorderly conduct each exist in their own chapter of the municipal code and are not tied directly to the idea of a nuisance.
In the town of East Lansing, nuisance ordinances are part of a larger chapter called “Offenses”. However, similar to that of Ann Arbor, nuisances in East Lansing are defined as things such as distributing advertisements and signs without first obtaining permission, failure to remove weeds and false alarm phone calls placed to fire or police.
The city of East Lansing’s code fails to even directly list ordinances about alcohol, or parties at all in order to police the campus of Michigan State University.
The Michigan State University law website does however, go into detail about “what types of actions may result in civil noise infractions”.
A “nose infraction” in East Lansing is yelling and shouting that lasts for longer than 5 minutes, music that can be heard from more than 50 feet from its source, and “devises to attract attention” continuing for longer than 5 minutes.
The East Lansing code has its own separate ordinances than that of the larger city of Lansing, which makes it seem that the students are being subjected to different treatment.
Officer Jeff Browne does not agree with this type of policing.
“I consider the students to be residents of Mount Pleasant. Students are an important part of the community. Without them, it would not be the town that it is,” Browne said.
 Law enforcement were called to a residence hall on the campus of Central Michigan University, Mount Pleasant, MI, April 21, 2015. "We try to maintain a 5 minute or less time to phone calls. Sometimes, that is not always possible because of the sheer number of calls on weekends like Welcome Weekend and Western Weekend," Mount Pleasant Police Officer Jeff Browne said. |  A Mount Pleasant police officer speaks to students outside of Wayside Central, Mount Pleasant, MI, April 21, 2015. |
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What CMU students think
In an unofficial survey of 150 students at Central Michigan University conducted by a Journalism Capstone class, 16.8 percent of respondents had been cited by law enforcement for an alcohol or drug related infraction. This means that 1 in 5 undergraduate students in the city of Mount Pleasant have fallen victim to the ordinances of the city and the laws of the state of Michigan.
Thirty-seven survey respondents, or 37 percent, feel that the police department in Mount Pleasant is “somewhat effective”. Another 18 respondents, or 18 percent, feel that the police is “effective” at doing their job.
Some students however, do not feel that the police are excelling at their job.
“I rarely see police in action. Police tend to not even be patrolling around Mount Pleasant unless they are called somewhere, so I don’t see how that’s very efficient,” Central Michigan University student Jessica Armstrong said.
The student opinion about the effectiveness of police is similar to the way that students feel about the effectiveness of ordinances in Mount Pleasant to keep order and peace.
Forty respondents or 39.6 percent feel that the ordinances regarding noise and nuisance violations are “just right”. Only 8.9 percent of students, or 9 respondents, feel that the ordinances are “too restrictive”.
CMU student Miguel Olivera is part of the majority who are in favor of the ordinances.
“I think the ordinances make complete sense. I think something that us college students often forget is that Mount Pleasant is still a community, and there are still other people who live here. This is their home. We’re kind of like guests – we are a part of that community, but we are not a part of it full time so I think it’s important to have the ordinances so we keep in mind where we are,” Olivera said.