TURN IT DOWN!!!

Faculty, students distracted by loud sound systems in vehicles
During the hours of 11 a.m. and 2 p.m., E.C. Harrison Drive, commonly known as the strip, turns into a car show.
Students and non-students– violating the Southern University noise ordinance– cruise with their music blasting rattling windows, shaking the foundation and disturbing teachers and students in buildings lining the one-way street.
“I think it is really disturbing and deters you from learning because everyone looks out of the window,” said Rodney Goldsmith, a sophomore from Ruston majoring in secondary education.
“I usually have to stop class,” said Talmage Bursh, professor of chemistry in Lee Hall. “You get disgusted with it but there is nothing you can do.”
Despite complaints among faculty and students, Southern University Police Department traffic clerk Ethel Jones said the department rarely gets calls reporting the problem.
“If no one calls it in, we will never know,” Jones said.
The fine for violating the noise ordinance is $10.
This is a regulation that SUPD enforces 24 hours a day.
According to SUPD and the city-parish, music is deemed too loud if it can be heard outside of the car.
Many students and faculty blame SUPD for not cracking down on the nuisance.
“If they have an ordinance, they should ticket those in violation,” said Antonio Stephens, a senior from Shreveport majoring in marketing.
However, officers say it is hard to enforce the ordinance.
“We make them turn it down but by the time they past the checkpoint they just turn it back up,” said Officer Brenda McGuffey.
Students like Ariana Marshall, a sophomore majoring in chemistry from Barbados feels that the problem will never go away.
“You can tell people that it is against the law, but I don’t think it will change anything.”