Seven UW-Madison students received a total of 154 tickets after city police raided their house party for noise complaints Jan. 29, according to an Associated Press article.

The men, all 19 and 20 years old, were each issued 10 tickets for selling alcohol without a permit, 10 for procuring alcohol by minors, one for underage drinking and one for noise. The tickets totaled $73,500, but, in the article, Madison Alderman Mike Verveer said the students likely will be allowed to plea bargain and some of the charges will be dropped.

House parties are common in every college town, including Eau Claire. If Madison police think they will curb future parties in their city by showering the residents of one house with excessive tickets, they are mistaken.

A much more effective deterrent to both attending and throwing house parties is giving typical tickets to individuals, rather than ticketing only the hosts. This is even more apparent as the seven Madison men’s plea bargaining will ruin any precedent that may have been set by the city’s police force.

While police have a duty to protect citizens, students should be responsible enough to take care of themselves when it comes to attending house parties. There are numerous educational resources regarding drinking on college campuses, including Party House and Counseling Services at Eau Claire. The possibly dangerous situations that correlate to house parties are not caused by the party hosts, but rather irresponsibility on the part of attendees.