The Board of Supervisors finally took a step toward mitigating the unsanctioned Deltopia party by passing a 24-hour music ban. Sixteen years of Deltopia and Isla Vista’s endless weekend party scene are why UCSB is the nation’s number one party school. This recognition is something no leader of a university wants. Despite this the only UCSB voices supervisors heard were from entitled associated student (AS) representatives demanding the party continue. UCSB has a new chancellor who, presumably, will end this debacle.
AS student reps are not alone; the I.V. Community Services District, including Laura Capps’s appointed representative, voted unanimously against the ordnance. Capps failed to control the party throughout her term in office. I asked Capps if the vote of Carrie Topliffe, her “adult” director, represented her perspective, and she said “I have over 60 appointments to boards and commission [sic] and do not instruct them how to vote on the thousands of votes they take.” However implausible that sounds, Capps also said she did not agree with Topliffe. You cannot have it both ways — remove Topliffe and appoint a permanent resident.
E. J. Raad, the “External Vice President for Local Affairs,” is the leading AS Deltopia advocate. AS collects a stunning $13 million a year from student fees. Raad and his cohort who spend this money are “elected” by barely 20 percent of the student body. Indeed, if numbers drop below 20 percent AS ceases to exist. In 2024, 22.26 percent of students voted (4,795). AS stupidity under Henry Yang is why the 2023 president is suing UCSB. UC Grads out there: does anyone remember voting in these idiotic AS elections? Time to audit this scam.
AS Student demands do reflect lawlessness in I.V. where you can park on a red curb in front of a fire hydrant with no fear of getting a ticket. You can host a live band at a residential home and disturb a neighbor’s peace with impunity. Lawless party culture can turn ugly as in the case of a UCSB student recently found guilty of multiple sexual assaults in I.V. Assaults are up on the UCSB campus.
UCSB’s new chancellor, Dennis Assanis, must become actively involved in ending this culture. Deltopia, where his predecessor failed miserably, is a start. See 11 years ago in the Independent https://www.independent.com/2015/12/04/ucsbs-halloween-redux/. Follow the lead of other party infested schools and enforce UCSB’s code of conduct. The nation’s number one party school needs a Dean Wormer.
End Deltopia immediately. Set up sobriety/ID checkpoints at all entry/exit points, and pass the digital word that 30,000 visitors are not welcome. Continued national embarrassment for UCSB, partiers overdosing and falling off cliffs, and county residents denied emergency medical services is unacceptable. The 2nd District supervisor and UCSB need to stop groveling for entitled brats, stop wasting millions of tax dollars, and start enforcing the law.
Peter Neushul is a 40-year Isla Vista resident and property owner
