All of us have experienced it. The first day of class, the professor believes that by dissecting the name of the course, and together, as a class, defining each word in the class’ official title, we, the students, will somehow be left with a great understanding of what we are going to be taught in the coming semester. While some may feel this is a fine tactic, my personal experiences have generally left me baffled and confused as to why I just spent 75 minutes trying to define “history” or “writing.” I must, however, confess that just last week one of my professors began class by using this method, and I have been grappling with the word all week.

The word in the class title that sparked a long conversation was culture. At first I brushed it off, pulled up Dictionary.com, and found that culture is obviously “the quality in a person or society that arises from a concern for what is regarded as excellent in arts, letters, manners, scholarly pursuits, etc.” Unfortunately, soon after, I realized that I have no idea what any of that means.

So what is the culture of Madison, Wis.? The culture of Madison is so awesome that it gets an entire section on Wikipedia, but what is it really? Phrases that immediately come to mind are the Capitol, Farmers’ Market, State Street, Halloween, but possibly above all else, Madison‘s culture is that of a college town. While many factors contribute to Madison being one of the greatest cities in America, arguably no factor contributes more than the fact that it is home to one of the nation’s foremost public universities. Realistically, the University of Wisconsin has been at the center of Madison‘s culture since 1866, and yet it seems that over the past few years the city and the school have been trying to destroy elements of the university’s culture that have so influenced the entire city.

While no one can fault the university, or the city, for not wanting to be stereotyped purely as a “party school,” I think I speak for many people when I say that the party element was one of the appealing factors during my college selection process. The “work hard-play hard” saying that has always been associated with this school has always been a staple of pride for many Big Ten schools, including the best one, Wisconsin. But for years the university has made a point to fight that. And while not wanting to be a party school is one thing, at this point it seems as though we have gone too far, and we have begun to assault our very culture. I can live with more arrests at Mifflin, I understand a shrinking Halloween, and I don’t protest the seemingly increasing number of visits by the Madison police to local bars, but now the city is beginning to go too far.

Their next move could be the straw that breaks the camel’s back. With the new proposals to relocate, and possibly completely prohibit late night vendors on North Frances, Madison has yet again chosen to fight its unique and amazing culture. They can give any justification they want, about noise complaints or vendors fighting for spots, but when push comes to shove, this is just another example of the city fighting its reputation as the home to a “party school.”

The Badger Herald’s Jan. 29 article claimed that, “Problems have been associated with the late night stand Jin’s Chicken and Fish, especially noise complaints.” I get it, no one wants to be woken up at 3 a.m. on a Sunday morning to blasting music, but we live in a college town. If you want complete serenity, there are beautiful areas in Madison far away from the late night bar crowd. Anyone who chooses to live on North Frances does so knowing what they are getting themselves into; they have intentionally chosen to live in the heart of a college town, at the intersection of State Street, the Brathaus, the vendors and the university.

City officials have tried to quiet critics by saying that they are simply going to move the vendors. One possible scenario has them moving to library mall, but I wonder, while they’re at it, why they don’t just move them to outside the lakeshore residence halls. Who walks through Library Mall on their way back on a given Saturday night? All moving them to Library Mall would accomplish is to allow them to claim that they never closed the vendors entirely. Another possibility has them moving to Frances Plaza. Frances Plaza may maintain business for the shops, but it would completely eliminate the area as a hang out spot, or a place for local musicians to camp out. None of the prospective moving locations are sincere; they are all simply a means for the city to avoid having to admit that they destroyed a Madison classic.

Finally, it seems extremely odd that Street Vending Coordinator Warren Hansen would suggest that, “Ultimately, if there continues being problems with late night vending, I wonder if we should have it at all.” If the city is so concerned with noise complaints of residents, it doesn’t seem fitting that just last year they would be doing construction outside of two freshman residence halls (The Towers and Statesider) beginning at 6:30 a.m. with loud drilling. The city is not concerned with the residents; they are concerned with their image.

Culture is a wonderful thing, and we must embrace it as that. I’m not saying that we can’t try and erase negative elements that have become associated with our city and our university, but I am saying that a vibrant night life and a passionate student base is not a negative. Allow us to express ourselves. To some, a vibrant night life is synonymous with underage drinking and with violence, but to me, and to many students here in Madison, a vibrant night life is a crucial aspect of our college experience. Jin’s and all of the late night vendors have become staples of Madison; North Frances is part of our culture, and we must allow it to remain unchanged.

Jordan Soffer ([email protected]) is a sophomore with an undecided major.