“Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood” instilled the value of neighborliness in our generation, but I’m still wondering won’t you be my neighbor? Based on recent events, I’m not so sure.
LiveSafe, an app designed to ensure student safety on campus, has features like the SafeRide and Trolley tracker, safety and emergency resources as well as a way to report non-emergency tips. However, since January 2025, the rise of LiveSafe noise complaints has multiplied astronomically — 12 incident reports were filed with the Furman University Police Department for noise complaints in January and February of this year compared to four reports during the same time period in 2023.
Anonymous noise complaints have skyrocketed for apartment buildings H, J and K, which are known for being rowdier, despite no significant increase in disruptive noise, according to the Furman officers. Out of the 12 noise-related incident reports this winter, nine of them occurred in H, J and K. Only five noise reports were filed for these buildings in the first two months of 2024.
The noise complaint feature on the LiveSafe app allows students to send reports directly to Furman police rather than the Resident Advisor on Duty. When the officers respond to a LiveSafe complaint, every student in the dorm or apartment must present a Furman ID. If alcohol is present, students are required to admit to drinking or use a breathalyzer. Cases with alcohol present go immediately to Student Conduct and are seen by the Student Accountability Board through conduct violation hearings. This process is extreme for being overly loud on the weekend.
This begs the question, why are we losing the ability to communicate with neighbors to express our frustrations? Is it easier to anonymously report your neighbor to the police and kickstart a lengthy process with the Student Life office?
Student Government Association Junior Class Representative Meg Madretzke has been spearheading conversations with Student Government Association, Student Life and Furman University Police Officers, alongside Dean Jason Cassidy, to redirect LiveSafe noise complaints to the Resident Advisor on Duty and to shift Furman’s culture. Calling Furman police should never be our first resort — they have far more pressing issues than dealing with a noise complaint.
Furthermore, dorm and apartment GroupMe chats are banding together on the importance of effective peer-to-peer communication. These conversations have also stressed the importance of relying on Resident Advisors on Duty to leave other campus authorities out of noise conflicts.
We need to strengthen our community. We need to feel empowered to tell our neighbors when they’re being too loud.
Perhaps we struggle with this because we’re glued to screens most of the day, whether it be laptops in class, texting friends, directions, music, DoorDash, watching TV and more. While conveniently hidden behind our phone screens, we email our professors, text our friends, order food and file maintenance requests. It’s comfortable, easy and even instinctual to open an app and report a noise violation. However, is our online anonymity empowering or detrimental?
Living on a fully residential campus provides a space for our community to blossom and thrive, with the potential to develop us into neighbors who are willing to have uncomfortable and confrontational conversations. Let’s take this in stride and aim to be neighbors to each other. Being a neighbor means being empathetic, intentional and helpful. It means building a community of peers — not tearing them down. It means treating others how you want to be treated.
I urge you, Furman students — neighbors, friends, classmates and peers — to consider the person on the other side of the wall and intentionally evaluate the urgency of a situation before resorting to calling the police. Knock on a door, send a message in your building GroupMe or call your Resident Advisor to make a noise complaint.
Hold your peers accountable. Have uncomfortable conversations. Be a good neighbor.