Dear Students:

Congratulations to all of you as we reach the end of a tough semester! For those who are graduating, we wish you all the best and hope you know how proud we are of everything you’ve achieved at Colorado State. Now, the door’s open and the future is yours — go get ’em.

To all our students: The weather’s warm, the semester’s drawing to a close, and I suspect there will be some "celebrating" going on in and around Fort Collins over the next several days. On behalf of all your faculty and staff here on campus — and your neighbors out in the community who still have to get up for work in the morning — I ask that you please be smart and be respectful. Pick up after yourselves, turn your music down at a reasonable hour, respect the law, and take responsibility for moderating your own behavior, rather than waiting for the police do it for you. You’ve made it through at least one semester of college, so we all know you’re smart … don’t go out this weekend and prove us wrong.

The City of Fort Collins, in partnership with CSU, has already done you a huge favor with the creation of a pilot Party Registration project, going on through this Saturday. Throwing a party for people of legal age isn’t a crime, but letting it get out of control is. Through the pilot project, people who plan to have parties on a Friday or Saturday can register with CSU’s Off-Campus Student Services in advance; then, if local police receive a noise complaint about your party, they’ll call and give you a warning — and an opportunity to break it up quickly on your own, avoiding a $1,000 fine and misdemeanor criminal record. During the first few weeks of the pilot project, everyone who registered a party and subsequently received a complaint ended up with a warning from the police, not a ticket.

Most of the noise violations reported in Fort Collins on any given weekend involve students, so consider this a gift from the community to you. I encourage you to use common sense and take advantage of this pilot program. You can register at Off-Campus Student Services in the LSC, or visit their website for more information.

And speaking of noise, I saw the video of last night’s flashmob at the library. It showed a lot of spirit — thanks for keeping it safe and leaving the library intact when you were done.

On that note, have a great summer, take care of yourselves and one another, thanks for being Rams, and congratulations again to the outstanding Class of 2009! Looking forward to seeing the rest of you back on campus in the fall —

-tony

Dr. Tony Frank
Interim President