It’s Sunday morning, 1:25 a.m. I’m not sleeping. I can’t sleep. Students have moved back to Kent. My quiet neighborhood has changed. There’s a party, and it’s a loud one. I can’t sleep with my windows open, yet it’s too hot to have them closed. I go into my son’s room, hoping it will be quieter in there. It isn’t. I worry that my 91-year-old father will wake up and be confused and think it is time for breakfast. He has dementia. I need my sleep to be able to take care of him. But it’s pointless. I’m awake and typing this letter instead.

We’ve lived around students for almost 30 years. We’ve listened to students talk loudly, yell and swear at the top of their lungs as they make their way to and from downtown. We’ve had plants and furniture taken from the front porch. We even had some students get into a fistfight and roll around in our front yard.

One time a very drunk boy came to our door, tried to push his way in, not believing that it wasn’t his house, and we led him to our porch swing, where he promptly passed out. He was unresponsive, and we were worried about him, so we called the police. The police carried him off our porch and discovered that he lived miles from our house. He had no idea where he was or WHO he was.

The morning after a party I would come out and fill a garbage bag with beer cans, bottles, and trash that would be all over my yard. Our yard also functioned as an outdoor toilet. With so many people in the house where the party was, they couldn’t possibly all fit in one bathroom, so they would pee in our yard, after all, it’s darker there. I’ve had to hose puke off my lawn. I’ve had people park in my yard, and block my driveway.

I know everyone is excited. It’s exhilarating to be independent, exciting to have a new apartment and new friends. I remember. I’ve experienced it. I have my undergraduate and Master’s degree from Kent State. But, please try to remember that there are PEOPLE who live in these houses that are near you. When you are talking loudly to your friends, we can hear every word you are saying, it comes right in our windows and through our walls. Please pick up your trash, your bottles, cans

and don’t leave them all over someone’s yard.

I’m not trying to tell you not to enjoy your time at Kent State. I’m not insinuating that every student

at Kent State acts irresponsibly. I’m giving you the full-time resident of Kent, taxpayer, homeowner’s viewpoint. You will move on, and we are left wondering what the next group of students will be like. Will they be considerate, or will they be completely self-absorbed and oblivious?

Thanks for reading this far. I do sincerely hope you enjoy your years in college. This truly is a happy, liberating time of your life. A time when your responsibilities are not as great as they will be in the future. Life passes by too fast. Before you know it, it will be YOU in a house, trying to get your infant to sleep, or hoping that your father with dementia will be able to sleep through the night.

Sincerely,

A very discouraged homeowner in Kent