Last week, Tucson City Council proposed yet another method to take care of mini-dorms in the residential neighborhoods that border campus. If passed, this new law would regulate that no more than five people who are not related can live in the same residence. The act is supposed to eliminate the party animal-antics of students living near campus, so that residents can return to the peace they experienced so long ago.
We all know the same old-as-time argument of the “mini-dorm” phenomena: a large and rowdy group of poor college students pool their money together and move into a large house, often new ones built by developers that don’t necessarily match the historical architecture of the surrounding houses. From there, the only kinds of stories that come out of these situations are triumphs in drinking games and taking the meaning of partying to new levels.
It seems Arizona has a knack for creating housing laws that discriminate against the college student population. Tempe and Flagstaff both have zoning laws that prevent sorority houses from being built. According to myth, an old Arizona law states that six or more women living together constitutes a brothel. This is a rumor, frequently passed around college towns, according to snopes.com. Obviously, this act is borderline ridiculous. Sorority houses are absolutely not brothel houses, but rather established organizations dedicated to positive morals, and Arizona’s Greek Life would never stand for such a law if it really existed. Nonetheless, there are efforts to prevent students from residing together.
Perhaps City Council has forgotten what it’s like to be a college student. Maybe council members have forgotten that universities are insanely expensive and it’s hard enough to scrounge up quarters for laundry, let alone find a relatively reasonably priced place to live. It makes perfect sense why groups of students live together — it’s cost efficient and convenient. Frankly, the average student does not make enough income to live luxuriously by themselves or with one roommate. Also, does the state not keep in mind that all of this student housing is an economic stimulator? Cheap rental homes are not exactly the most highly sought after residential properties on the market.
Either way, students are going to party. It doesn’t matter if you put two kids in a house or five. Nor does it matter if you restrain the sorority girls all into one dorm complex or separate houses. Students will be students. Also, not to sound like a selfish university student, but didn’t it ever cross the minds of residents who live within walking distance from the UA that there might be students living down the street? It is common sense that the closer the proximity to campus, the higher concentration of students. If someone didn’t want to live in the student zone, they should have considered living in a different location.
This new magic rule of limiting Tucson residents to five people to a home is not going to take care of underage drinking or the noisy neighbor factors. Arizona should reconsider proposals that suppress university student living situations.
— Ashley Reid is a journalism sophomore. She can be reached at letters@wildcat.arizona.edu.
