Last Tuesday's Collegian reported that the State College Borough Council may update the current property code. Under the new code, property owners would receive points for certain infractions. Some infractions, like not keeping up with the care of the property, would incur one point, while furnishing alcohol to minors would cost three points. If the owners get to 10 points, they can have their rental permits revoked.

Obviously, some people have complained.

One glaring goal of this new code is to try and crack down on fraternity houses that are causing a problem. The amendment already identified 19 "problem properties," 15 of which are fraternity houses.

Some say that the ordinance, if enacted, will go after fraternities too much. Council member James Meyer was quoted as saying "this really hangs the fraternities out to dry."

I say it's about time. Look, not all fraternities cause problems, but the ones that do need to be dealt with.

Try to think about at it from the perspective of State College residents. Most of them value a little peace and quiet and want the neighborhoods that they live in to be nice, inviting places.

They don't want constant reminders that there are 40,000 plus college kids a few miles down the road. How would you feel if you were kept up until the early morning hours by the sound of drunken college kids, or woke up on a Sunday morning to beer cans and other litter lying on the sidewalks and in the yards of some fraternity houses?

There may be those who say that the borough residents simply have to accept that they live in a college town where the students are going to do what college students have done for quite some time now.

I would suggest to these people, though, that when you move off the campus and into the surrounding community, you are more than just a student at Penn State -- you are a member of the community, and with that comes the responsibility to respect your neighbors.

I still live in the dorms, but the situation isn't all the different. We have quiet hours here, and if you cause a problem in your community you have to accept the consequences. I can imagine what it would be like for me to come back after a long day and have music blaring in the room down the hall, so I know what the borough residents are feeling. If you live off campus, your neighbors may be more than five feet away and you may not have an RA there to enforce the rules, but you still have to be respectful of others and now it is up to you to do so on your own. For those few bad apples that just can't seem to do this, the threat of eviction may be the only option left.

I think everyone would agree that we would much rather fix the problem than just get rid of it.

But you have to do what you have to do. And I think a lot of the fraternities understand that. Phillip Wagner, a member of the Off Campus Student Union and Pi Kappa Phi expressed his support of the ordinance. The fraternities don't want to be given an even worse image by a few who just can't seem to behave.

The ordinance also tries to address more serious issues. Property owners would get points if the tenants commit a sexual assault or other crime. Obviously, when it comes to people's safety, especially when related to sexually based crimes, you cannot do enough.

There are some shortcomings to the proposal, though. One is that the amendment doesn't directly deal with another problem area in the community -- the apartment complexes.

Fraternities aren't the only places serving alcohol to minors and dealing with the problem of sexual assault. It is about time that the borough takes a more proactive approach to cracking down on apartment parties and tenants as well. So far, direct action to curb this other side of the Penn State party scene seems to have fallen short. Still, this new ordinance could help bring about some positive change and help the fraternities regain some respect in the surrounding community.

Living in Penn State sometimes means that we live in a bubble. The surrounding community is here because of Penn State, so it easy to think that the world revolves around us. But of course, Penn State is only a piece of the surrounding community. Each and every one of us has to remember that we have a responsibility to respect our neighbors and work to improve the places where we each live.

The new ordinance could be a long overdue wake up call to those who have forgotten or ignored this responsibility.