Dustin Patterson's Blog

Springfest – noun.  The official name given to a yearly gathering at University Park in Grand Forks, ND.  The event occurs every May on the Saturday before the University of North Dakota has final exams, starting before noon and finishing late in the afternoon.  In addition to the events in University Park, many bars in Grand Forks hop onto the Springfest bandwagon by opening at 8 am, offering early-bird drink specials, and some even serving breakfast.

Many students at the University of North Dakota look forward to Springfest, a raging party held at University Park, as a way to “relax” and “de-stress” after a long semester and right before final exams.  Due to several concerns, I have chosen not to participate in Springfest for the reasons illustrated below.

Reason 1 – Promotion of Drinking at UND

The University of North Dakota is often concerned with how they rank in terms of binge drinking.  According to The Princeton Review, UND is ranked 18th of all US colleges in partying.  While many students are proud of this high number, I’m sure that UND administration is not – especially considering that UND ranks #5 of all US colleges for students who study the least.

UND offers activities on the weekend to attempt to reduce its rank as a party school, but some say that UND might not be doing enough.  “Nightlife” is a program that offers events on and around UND’s campus on the weekends as a safe alternative to drinking.  The residence halls at UND also offer events for their residences such as movies, games, etc.  What is concerning to me is that Springfest occurs in University Park, just a couple of blocks east of main campus buildings.

If UND really wanted to reduce the level of alcohol consumption, I feel the UND administration should speak out against Springfest.  It appears, however, that they have more pressing matters to deal with, like wasting the last few years changing the school nickname (but I digress, that’s another discussion altogether).

Finally, the most important thing to consider about UND’s apparent disregard of Springfest is its proximity to Finals Week.  Springfest is held the weekend before Finals Week – the most critical week of the year for most students, in which they take cumulative exams to measure what they’ve learned throughout the course of the semester.  I’m no doctor, but imagine if you will what a full day (and potentially weekend) of binge drinking will do to a student’s test-taking ability immediately before they have a grueling week of exams.

Reason 2 – Unequal enforcement of the Grand Forks Noise Ordinance

The Grand Forks Noise Ordinance has been a concern among the student population since it was passed in 2006.  Vaguely written, the Grand Forks Noise Ordinance allows for enforcement of the law based upon an officer’s opinion of what is “unreasonable noise”.  The noise ordinance, quoted below, states that anyone breaking the noise ordinance law is subject to a Class B misdemeanor – up to 30 days in jail, a $1000 fine, or both – which many feel is a little harsh for simply “being too loud”.  What is also interesting is that a similar law in Virginia Beach was ruled unconstitutional (source; Dakota Student).

Unequal enforcement of this law has come up in the past.  Last fall, a UND student spent two nights in jail for a noise ordinance violation at a downtown apartment.  What is interesting about this case is that the mentioned student was living in an apartment above Level10, a busy downtown Grand Forks bar.

“I can understand if someone is cited for a loud party in a residential neighborhood or something like that, but I live above the loudest nightclub in town on the busiest night of the week.” (source: Dakota Student)

As a member of the UND Greek Community, I have seen unequal enforcement of this law first-hand to us and our Greek neighbors.  What is interesting, though, is the enforcement by the University Police Department.  Many houses have recently been cited for simply having 10 or 15 people on their front lawn on weekend night, cited as “a disturbance to the public”.  What I would like to know is how are 10 to 15 people on the front lawn of a private house more of a disturbance than the all-day Springfest party in a public park?  It should also be noted that University Park is only 1/2 block away from the Greek housing that so frequently “disturbs the public”.

The Grand Forks Noise Ordinance:

9-0110. Noisy party or gathering.
(1) No person shall participate in any party or gathering consisting of two (2) or more people when said party or gathering gives rise to unreasonable noise likely to cause significant discomfort or annoyance to a reasonable person of normal sensitivities present in the area, in consideration of the time of day and the residential character of said area or building.
(2) When a law enforcement officer determines that a gathering is creating such a noisy disturbance, the officer may order all persons present, other than the owner or tenant of the premises where the disturbance is occurring, to disperse immediately. No person shall refuse to leave the premises after being told by a police officer to do so.
(3) Every owner of such premises, or tenant in charge of such premises, who has knowledge of the disturbance shall cooperate with such police officer and shall make reasonable efforts to stop the disturbance.
(4) The following shall be prima facie evidence in any prosecution under this section of the owner’s or tenant’s violation of this section.
(A) As to tenants, and owner if owner resides on the premises, if twice or more on the same day or if on successive days, any law enforcement agency is called upon to enforce the terms of this section either by citizen complaint or by personal investigation of a police officer.
(B) As to the owner if the owner does not reside at the premises, if after the owner receives written notice of three (3) violations of this section by the owner’s tenant at any premises owned by the owner in the City of Grand Forks within a six-month period, and after receipt of such written notice, the Grand Forks Police Department is called upon to enforce this section either by citizen complaint or by personal investigation of a police officer.
(C) Noise of such volume so as to be clearly audible at a distance of fifty (50) feet from the structure, or building in which the party or gathering is occurring, or in the case of apartment buildings in the adjacent hallway or apartment, shall be prima facie evidence of unreasonable noise in violation of this section.
(5) For the purposes of this section, “premises” shall mean:
(A) The building actually leased or owned by the person occupying the leasehold or real estate;
(B) The appurtenant lot and outbuildings of said leasehold or real estate; and
(C) The common entryways and exit ways of said leasehold or real estate whether or not these ways are privately controlled or commonly available to other tenants.

(Ord. No. 3546, § 2, 9-18-95; Ord. No. 3589, § 1, 5-20-96; Ord. No. 3807, § I, 8-2-99; Ord. No. 4113, § I, 1-3-06)

Conclusion

From what I mentioned above, it becomes clear what a large factor is in this situation: money.  Springfest is put on by local Grand Forks businesses and provides a large amount of income for them along with tax revenue for the city (not to mention the income from residential noise ordinance violations).  If you live in Grand Forks for any period of time, you’ll quickly realize that the people getting the majority of sanctions are the ones without economic ties to the town (i.e. students); while downtown Grand Forks bars such as Gilly’s have outdoor speakers aimed into the street but never incur noisy party violations themselves.

While I don’t believe that my little post here will put a stop to Springfest, I do hope it causes people to think more about the impact Springfest has on the university and the surrounding community.  I’m sure that I’ve said something to spark a debate with my readers, so feel free to send me your thoughts on what I’ve said or anything that you may think about the situation.

Now, if you’ll please excuse me, I have to make house repairs caused by drunks from this weekend.

This entry was posted on Monday, May 10th, 2010 at 8:25 am and is filed under Beta Theta Pi, College. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.