Depiction of Chico Missed the True Story

I found the March 29 story, “Hazing Death Highlights Chico’s Greek Life,” which highlighted the death of a Chico State student and the “darker” side of the university, to be unfair to the university and the town of Chico. I grew up in Chico and am proud of my roots. After high school, I headed to UCLA and found the students to be similar to the students at Chico State -- there were students who wanted to party, students who wanted to learn and some students who wanted to do a little of both.

Nowhere did the article mention that the town’s notoriously raucous Halloween and St. Patrick’s Day celebrations have all but disappeared because of a strong collaboration among the university, the community, City Council and public safety organizations.

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Instead of focusing on the minority of students who only drink and party, we should focus on the students who spend their Saturday as part of the annual “Scour and Devour” community cleanup, the students who regularly volunteer to feed the hungry and the students who work hard every day to become our teachers, nurses, engineers and public servants. Chico is a beautiful, safe and tightly knit community. Chico State students should count themselves lucky to be a part of it.

Amy Thoma

Salinas