The Right to Party
Contrary to the popular song by The Beastie Boys – (You Gotta) Fight For Your Right (To Party), you don’t have to fight for it. Just party responsibly.
Irresponsible partying behavior by Greek life brought about the California Assembly Bill 524: The Campus-Recognized Sorority and Fraternity Transparency Act. It was meant to curb reckless and out-of-control behaviors, hold Greek chapters and universities accountable for hazing and sexual assault, and re-educate chapters that struggled with complying with social norms.
A Party Is A Party. Right?
You have to look at the context. Parties have evolved in both size and scope in our neighborhood. Having a party is, in of itself, not illegal, and if you live in the neighborhoods around Cal Poly you will likely be renting a house near long-term, year-round residents. Coexisting is key.
Year-Round Residents vs Transitional Residents
Why make the distinction? A year-round resident is someone who lives in that neighborhood long-term. They don’t leave during summer or academic breaks. The neighborhoods around Cal Poly have become extremely impacted by the college student population who tend to be transitional residents. It’s not negative, it’s just a fact. There’s a difference in lifestyles and attitudes. Coexisting is important. With a year-round resident, the neighborhood is their long-term home. They can’t just “leave”. Leave to where? They live there. They may have lived in their home since the 1950’s, potentially. Whatever their situation, they care about their peace, and to ensure this peace, there are San Luis Obispo City laws such as the Noise Ordinance.
Students usually come here for college but “go home” during academic breaks and summer. While school is in session, they are busy with college life and the academic pressures that come with that life. They may take advantage of everything that San Luis Obispo has to offer. Maybe outdoor activities like hiking and biking or a short drive to the beach. But just like year-round residents, there’s a broad spectrum. Some respect the neighborhood, laws, and ordinances while others just view it as “accommodation” and don’t care about social norms. This is where the illegal fraternity houses come into the conversation.
Parties
Anyone can have a party. It’s not illegal. But when discussing a single-family residential area classified as R-1 or R-2 by the San Luis Obispo City Zoning Ordinance, common sense should be applied. When most people get together to have a party with a few friends or family, thirty people would be pretty big. Drinking may be involved, but it doesn’t usually become out of control, or louder and louder with screaming, swearing, and cheering. The Noise Ordinance would normally be followed, and respect would be afforded to neighbors since it’s the right thing to do.
Eff that!
Fraternities are only permitted in more dense R-3 and R-4 zones with a conditional use permit per the San Luis Obispo Municipal Code and Zoning Regulations, however, it seems all a fraternity needs to do is rent a house anywhere, plant a flag with Greek letters, and call it ”good”.
End-of-year blow-out fraternity parties in backyards have become common since 2022. These parties, held in our residential neighborhood, are registered with and sanctioned by Cal Poly’s Greek Life. With the warmer weather, fraternities host daytime parties called a “dayge” (daytime rage) with hundreds of people, waterslides, and booming music in the backyards of their illegal fraternity houses. Some of the parties are advertised on social media ahead of time, with videos showing clips from their similar blow-out parties in the neighborhood from the last couple of years.
With illegal fraternity houses that hold events embedded in a residential neighborhood, they don’t care about social norms or permanent residents, especially once they are intoxicated. This is their neighborhood in their minds. They have the right to full-on blowout music fests. DJs. Smoke machines. The works. Mega parties under the guise of a fundraiser or philanthropic event. Not a care in the world about how they impact the neighborhood. About the permanent residents they say, “Those people need to move!” They don’t care. At all. I can attest to that because I’ve had it said right to my face. The Noise Ordinance is just an unfair nuisance to them.