'Quiet nights' necessary

Imagine, if you will, a typical Bloomington apartment complex. It\'s 3 a.m. on a Tuesday morning. You, in your first floor apartment, have a test at 8 a.m. The guys in the apartment above you decide that 3 a.m. is a reasonable time to play the Beatles so loud that not only does it wake you, you can make out the lyrics. You and your roommate put on your bathrobes, go upstairs, and ask nicely if they will turn down their stereo. They say sure, no problem. You head back downstairs. As you reach the bottom of the stairwell, they yell profanities and slam their door, then proceed to turn the music up louder. And you think the Quiet Nights initiative isn't necessary? When you feel threatened by asking your neighbor to be a little quieter? Why should you have to be verbally accosted simply because you're trying to sleep? How about the neighbors who turn their stereo up night after night, even after you've asked them repeatedly to turn it down? Why should it continue to be your responsibility to ask them to turn it down or call the cops on them every other night? Why shouldn't the police be proactive in dealing with people -- students or otherwise -- who are too inconsiderate to think of anyone other than themselves? Your editorial calls the Quiet Nights program a "discredit to the civility of students . . ." Perhaps if some students were civil enough not to blast their music in the first place, this wouldn't even be an issue.