Editor, Daily Nexus,

Where is the Isla Vista only our parents — and maybe longtime Isla Vista resident Henry Sarria — knew? Can someone introduce me to the 1969 Isla Vista where 19 students were arrested during student demonstrations against the invasion of Iraq, er, Vietnam? Where is the Isla Vista where students defied 7 p.m. curfews imposed by peace officers; the Isla Vista that lit fire to the Bank of America. Where is the Isla Vista that had a political pulse, that cared about the imperialist wars fought by armies waving the same stars and stripes that fly near Campbell Hall?

Introduce anyone to Isla Vista, 2004, and what do we see? Instead of students breaking bottles over the helmeted heads of riot police, we are fighting against each other. Instead of burning symbols of U.S. power, we are burning ratty hand-me-down furniture from our uncle’s dank basement.

Are things better or worse in Isla Vista today than in the days of Vietnam? Let’s say you had to choose between the two: Would you prefer your alma mater’s reputation remain the same or would you prefer a reputation akin to the days of resistance during the Vietnam War?

If you don’t care what my opinion is, stop reading now, as I’m about to give it to you.

Isla Vistans need to snap out of it. Rachel DiFranco (“Sticks and Stones…”, Daily Nexus, Nov. 23) raises a legitimate yet tenuous complaint against the I.V. Foot Patrol (IVFP), but that issue is overplayed in my opinion. If I were the IVFP, I’d be pissed that my time was wasted busting college kids on the offenses we are all accustomed to. I’d feel my money was earned if I was keeping the peace during massive student demonstrations or extinguishing burning banks instead of your old couch.

It’s funny that Isla Vistans don’t realize that we have a truly legitimate reason to raise absolute hell in typical Isla Vista fashion to justify our behavior: the war in Iraq and George “Four More Years” Bush. I think Isla Vista should give new meaning to the phrase “disturbing the peace.”