DeKALB | The city council has banned outdoor parties on the day before and the day of Reading Day, irritating both students and business owners.

NIU’s Reading Day was created to ensure that students have enough time to study for final exams. Recently, some students have used this time to attend large outdoor parties. Originally, the city gave out one permit to a local business in order to have this type of event. On Monday, the city council passed an ordinance to ban all outdoor parties on the day before and the day of Reading Day.

“[Students] can still go out and party; there just won’t be anymore outdoor parties,” said DeKalb city clerk Donna Johnson. Johnson said the city only gave out one permit to a local bar at a time.

“First we only gave one [permit], now it is none. I don’t think that will make a big difference,” she said.

Johnson said she sympathized with local business owners who consequently will be losing business, but insisted there won’t be any long-term negative monetary effects.

“Businesses will have less customers for those days, but I don’t think their overall business will be hurt too much,” Johnson said.

The same sentiments were felt by Jeff Dobie, owner of Fatty’s Pub and Grill, 1312 W. Lincoln Highway.

“This ban won’t really affect our business,” he said.

However, Dobie is annoyed by the ordinance.

“The city is really over-stepping its bounds. It’s not like there have been any injuries on Reading Day or something like that,” he said.

Dobie felt the city council’s decision to ban parties as an effort to persuade more students to study was wrong.

“The city council is blurring the line between city government and university government. They should just stick to city government,” Dobie said.

Another group affected by the city council’s new ban is the Student Association. The SA has previously had large outdoor parties on Reading Day. Just like every other organization, they must change their plans this year.

“It should not be up to any government to legislate what students do with their free time,” said SA president Adam Novotney. “Reading Day is there for the students. If we want to use it for studying, then we will. It should be our choice.”

Novotney said the SA attempted to oppose the new ordinance, but failed.

“We tried to do something, but they chose not to listen,” he said.

Furthermore, Novotney said the new ordinance did not drastically affect the SA’s plans this year and that he believes it will not affect students very much.

“Students are going to use Reading Day for whatever they see fit,” Novotney said.