The first week of fall semester will always be hectic.

It took an hour to find parking. The professor of the Econ 301 class – the one you need in order to graduate – isn’t accepting crashers. Somehow, six textbooks cost $500.

You need a chance to blow off some steam. You plan a “first day of school” blowout bash with your buddies. Just remember, your neighbor has a list of responsibilities too. And he or she may not have Fridays off.

While your partying might help you stay up for the semester, it’s likely keeping someone else up. And with new laws, these angry neighbors can fight back harder than ever before.

All it takes is a phone call to the San Diego Police Department’s Mid-City division when a social gathering is out of control.

The police began a new program to calm student partying in the College Area on April 7 and the test will end Nov. 7. The San Diego City Council will then make the decision on whether to keep the program, trash it, change it or expand it to other parts of San Diego.

The basic idea behind the new law is simple. If your party gets out of hand, you get a ticket handed to you.

This is nothing new because hosts of parties have always been susceptible to getting fines if their party causes a ruckus. But the pilot program for the test citation is nothing less than callous.

A happening party, fed-up neighbors and one phone call can result in police giving the hosts a nightmare of a punishment.

A $1,000 citation is given to every tenant of the party’s residence, and they have only 10 days to pay – a sentence so extreme that it has caused an uproar among the San Diego State student body.

Thirty people had received this citation by Aug. 5 and 15 more tenants and landlords have been cited as of Aug. 23 in more than 13 residences, said Jeremy Ehrlich, A.S. vice president of external affairs and chief communications officer.

The fed-up neighbors in the college area have been taking advantage of this piloted citation. Phone calls about noise complaints have been pouring into police stations from irritated neighbors. Those 45 citations came after approximately 900 calls to the Mid-City police since April 7, Ehrlich said.

Associated Students has responsibly recognized the disturbance created by the citation and the diminishing relationship between long-time College Area residents and their student neighbors.

A.S. is taking the lead to push students in the right direction – away from the noise violation citation.

“When there are so many student renters in the neighborhood, it becomes the ‘tipping point’ where the parties get out of control and this citation is a scare tactic,” Ehrlich said. “We need to build real trust and relationships in the community and we need to keep our parties in check and we’ll keep ourselves out of trouble.”

A.S. plans to place members to sit in on citation hearings, participate in ride-alongs and also start a Facebook group to educate students about the citation.

If you’re thinking this sounds like a Facebook group that will have four members, you might want to rethink your stance.

Students are not going to stop partying and the older neighbors in the area aren’t going to stop calling the police.

If we don’t learn about the fine and how to play within the system, the police will just hit back harder. Ehrlich said that many fines come when the hosts ignore the police or react belligerently in their presence.

Students can’t fight the fine, they can only fix the fine. And the only way to fix it is to learn about it.

So attend a council meeting or at the very least join the Facebook group so the College Area can be a better place for future students.