A couple in Ormskirk, Lancashire “lost their home” in a legal battle with Edge Hill College.

That last sentence (derived from the headline of the piece) might make you think that the college had taken their home, in the British government’s version of the Eminent Domain nonsense. Actually, though, they sued the college because its students were too loud, and had to sell the home to pay off their legal fees when they lost.

“You would think twice moving next door to a chemical factory or a penal reform institution,” said Mrs Beaumont, who used to work at the college.

“But you would never have expected such a nightmare with a college. Our lives were left devastated and it seems that colleges and universities are above the law when it comes to controlling their students.”

…

Val Weedon, secretary and national coordinator for the UKNA, said: “The Beaumonts are a really nice, normal couple and didn’t deserve to lose their home.

Maybe the UK’s average college is different, but loud, annoying students are pretty much a staple of any college here. (Actually, their influence pretty much takes over the whole college town.)

Also, why is it the college’s responsibility if the students are noisy? If a lot of people moved to a small town because that town had a specific tourist attraction, you’d blame the people for the problems they caused, not the attraction. The students are to blame for their loud and obnoxious behavior, and this couple would be perfectly within their rights to go after individual students with everything in their power. Blaming the college, on the other hand, is ludicrous.

Even moreso, in my opinion, is framing this as though they were an innocent couple whose home was taken from them. I’m assuming the college was there when they bought the place, and even if it wasn’t, there were plenty of options available to them besides filing lawsuits they couldn’t afford. While I have sympathy for them (I hated college students while I was in college, and couldn’t bear to deal with them now), I think that the loss of their house is a problem brought on by their own actions, and they should try accepting that, rather than blaming everyone else.