LAUSDeanLong: Over the past two years, I have been engaged in an ongoing dialogue about the culture of drinking at Penn State with the presidents of the Liberal Arts Undergraduate Council.
Sam Loewner and I focused on the controversial administrative responses to State Patty’s Day, while Geoff Halberstadt and I established a Dialogue on Drinking in which we discussed, among other things, what we owe to one another as students, faculty and administrators. So I thought we might continue this tradition with Lauren Perrotti, President of the Liberal Arts Undergraduate Council for the 2011-12 academic year.
In light of all that has happened at Penn State in the last year, new questions and issues have emerged around the drinking culture at the university. Those issues have recently been brought into focus by an Op-Ed article in the Daily Collegian written by Sam Richards and Laurie Mulvey which argues that students should say no to State Patty’s Day this year. What is your take on this issue, Lauren?
LaurenPerrotti: First, I’d like to thank you, Sam, and Geoff for cultivating a meaningful dialogue surrounding this issue. I think it’s important to note that the seriousness and negativity surrounding State Patty’s Day has always been important. The recent events don’t make it an any more severe, but there’s an enhanced need to come together as a community. As Penn Staters, we should never allow outside forces to control our decisions, and it is essential that we do not permit a fictitious holiday and out-of-town visitors to create a chaotic and destructive environment. It is up to us as the Penn State family to take a stand against State Patty’s Day.
LAUSDeanLong: I read on PSU Live that a core group of student leaders have teamed up with Mayor Elizabeth Goreham and local businesses to curtail excessive drinking this weekend. It seems to me that if this is going to be successful, it will need to be a grassroots student movement, even if it involves collaboration with the Penn State and Borough administrations. State Patty’s Day began as a student led initiative, it could be transformed by students. Are there plans to refocus the energy dedicated to State Patty’s Day to other endeavors related to service?
LaurenPerrotti: State Patty’s Day has begun to turn from a student sponsored event into a student service event. As more outsiders flock to State College to drink on this weekend, our hometown students are coming together in a big way to protect our community and help each other. The InterFraternity Council (IFC) has decided that there will be no social functions sponsored by fraternities on State Patty’s Day, Residence Life has created a one guest per room policy for this weekend, and the Penn State Council of Lionhearts Service Leaders is sponsoring the STATE Day of Service. These initiatives, among others, hope to keep downtown State College a safe and fun place. We do so much good for this world when we work together. I hope that this attitude toward State Patty’s Day prevails and it soon becomes a myth of a holiday practiced by past students. I do wonder though, will we transform State Patty’s Day? Dissolve it? And how long will it take?
Paul Ferrera says
I know I am late, but I just came across this post and wanted to leave a quick comment about the drinking culture here at Penn State.
As much as the University does to counteract excessive drinking, I have come across many faculty over the years who have a very relaxed attitude towards drinking. In high school, alcohol was the devil and every teacher would reenforce the dangers of drinking. We were told over and over again not to drink, at all. When I came to college, I noticed a huge change in the culture around drinking. I have had professors who joke about drinking and talk about drinking to freshman like it is no big deal. I remember a physics professors who used a ping pong ball and the game beer pong to illustrate projectile motion. While this is a very relatable example for college students, the message it sends can be mixed. When I was a freshman, I remember thinking, “This is so much cooler than high school! My professors talk about drinking, so it must be okay.”
Another example: I took Spanish 002 last semester and my instructor used examples relating to parties and drinking almost every day in class. Correct me if I am wrong, but here at UP, I think the curriculum for the Spanish Basic Language program is fairly standard, meaning that the PowerPoints my instructor taught from are being used in all Spanish 2 courses. Again, very relatable material from college students. However, I had that class at 10 a.m. on Monday morning, and for many freshman in my class, that was their first Penn State class ever. For an impressionable freshman, I think that class conveyed a poor message about Penn State’s drinking culture.
Note: I firmly believe in personal responsibility and believe that adults have the right to make their own choices about drinking. I would never blame any professor for irresponsable decisions a student makes in regarding to alcohol consumption. Students have the responsibility to make safe choices when drinking. My note is simply meant to illustrate a factor that, in my opinion, contributes to the drinking culture at Penn State.
Paul Ferrera
Robert Turchick says
Sorry Sam, your comment hadn’t appeared yet when I commented myself. I think you made a good point when you said we need to cut the “low hanging fruit.” It might be the easiest/quickest way to alleviate some of the problems. I would also say that if we’re going to try and promote responsible drinking, it should begin the minute incoming freshman set foot on campus. I don’t think spending one or two weeks before SPD educating people on the dangers of reckless drinking will do much to change things. But that’s not to say that these efforts are totally in vain – it’s just obviously not enough.
Sam Loewner says
What do you think of my proposals for changing SPD? I won’t use the term “phasing out,” but I did offer some ideas, yes? Hoping they get some discussion.
Robert Turchick says
Thanks for providing that link, Geoff. I wonder if the downtown clothing stores will join the restaurants in ignoring State Patty’s Day next year.
I think your frustration is just – I myself have placed a lot of the blame for SPD on out-of-towners. Thank you for putting the matter in perspective. However, it leads back to the same question – how does the school/town phase this holiday out?
Right now, I wonder how much time is devoted to planning for damage control. I think plans should be made in conjunction with the town, police, businesses, and ResLife way in advance (maybe even in the summer once students have left). If limits/rules for the weekend are made known in advance, it would help kill the hype that builds the holiday up so high.
I do agree that there is a respectful way to partake in SPD. It’s ashame that students don’t just stay inside for the day. That would make matters easier for everyone.
Sam Loewner says
I have no anecdotal evident, as I wasn’t in town this weekend, but I join the laments. I have read that more than half of the police incidents this weekend involved people who live outside of Centre County, which is positive and negative, depending on your perspective. The opinion I hold now (and I believe it is the opinion I’ve held since I sat down with Dean Long several years ago) is represented by Geoff’s last few lines. There are so many ways to drink, party, and celebrate responsibly. Why do “breaking windows” and “destroying your neighbor’s property” have to appear on that list?
This year, more than others, was the start of an organized conversation. I think OnwardState.com led that with its ongoing series. I didn’t agree with all of their points, but I do think they made a multi-week effort to get people to think about their actions. That’s useful.
I have been thinking about some of the things Lauren discussed above. There are other ways to spend the day. There are strategies we can use to address this holiday.
First: Last year, I believe the student body president sent a message to the University of Delaware asking their students to stay home, a response to the notion (perhaps accurate) that those visitors were more destructive than most. I also believe they had a more concerted effort to get to State College, including several buses. I am under the impression that UDel and WVU are still some of the most aggressive out-of-towners on State Patty’s Day, and I am wondering what effort is being made to keep those students on their campuses. Our student leaders should work with theirs to develop a solution. I understand that these visitors don’t cause all the problems, but it seems like the low-hanging fruit — something we can address without much consternation on the part of PSU students.
Second: What are we doing to encourage responsible drinking? Although there are a lot of preventative measures to prevent excessive drinking (some of which may do more harm than good), I don’t think there is a lot of concerted effort behind the message “please just don’t start drinking before noon and please just don’t drink so much that you might die.” Readers of this blog will say “that doesn’t need to be said.” But I would disagree. I think it’s worth making that a centerpiece of the efforts coming out of Old Main and the Borough. This strategy is a little debatable, I know, but what else is there? Berating students until they stop listening? That hasn’t worked.
GH says
Well, the swath of destruction and disregard known as State Patty’s Day seems to officially be over. The preliminary numbers are coming in; this data should allow us to quantify the number of arrests, DUI, citations, trips to Mt. Nittany Medical Center, etc. The numbers for Friday night appear to be average and Saturday’s statistics were – according to early reports from StateCollege.com – lagging compared to last year. I’ll reserve qualitative judgement until the final statistics come in.
I will not, however, reserve anecdotal judgement. This so-called holiday was, once again, a total disgrace to the community. The swarms of drunk, obscene, green-clad, confrontational students were evident all over downtown State College. Frankly, I don’t care what the stats tell me about how many people actually got arrested or were taken to the hospital. What I do care about is what I actually saw yesterday. I saw a complete and total disregard from students – both Penn Staters and non-PSU students – and even alumni for our community. As an alumnus and now State College resident I believe I have a good perspective from which I may draw conclusions and form my opinion. What I would like to address is the hypocrisy I saw both in person and read on Twitter. This notion that out-of-towners are to blame for the wreckage and disgrace is bulls**t. I am tired of Penn Staters complaining about the non-PSU students who come up for SPD. In one tweet, you can not brag about your day-long drinking and in another rail against non-PSU students for coming to SPD. This is an event propounded by Penn State students. If you genuinely believe that out-of-towners shouldn’t be here damaging our town and harming our image, then you should be adult enough to stand up against the holiday. You can’t half-ass respect for our community. You either respect it or you don’t. There is no middle-ground. You and your friends can drink all day, disturb our community, and trash our streets, but students from IUP, Drexel, Pitt, and Maryland can’t? Spare me the self-righteous indignation. Your words are hollow when your actions repudiate your spoken message.
I applaud all of those students, and there are a lot of them, or took a stand against SPD. These students share a common understanding of what it means to be responsible stewards of the unique relationship Penn State shares with the surrounding community. Their commitment to shared ideals and ethical citizenship is laudable, but it also should not be the exception in our community; it should be the norm.
Lastly, I thank those of you who partied yesterday respectfully, exercising restraint. You show others that there is a balance and a way in which to have good fun without embarrassing yourselves and the community. It’s a shame more of your peers don’t get it.
Christopher P. Long says
Given the number of people I have seen stumbling around town wearing green t-shirts and tank-tops in the snow today, I would not be surprised to learn that State Patty’s was bigger, caused more damage and led to more arrests this year than last.
Driving through town, my 7-year old daughter and I spent a great deal of time talking about how to identify someone who is drunk. In this case, it involved not simply the stumbling, yelling and inability to stand, but also wearing green, young adults giving each other a piggy-back, punching, and carrying little cans of Red Bull. That led, of course, from a discussion about the deleterious effects of alcohol to one about those of excess caffeine.
Geoff Halberstadt says
@Rob, here is a good list of the current plans for downtown bars and restaurants.
http://www.statecollege.com/news/local-news/whos-open-closed-for-state-pattys-day-2012-bars-restaurants-set-their-plans-1011249/
Christopher P. Long says
As this weekend approaches, I am thinking about Spencer Watson Seupel:
http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/poughkeepsiejournal/obituary.aspx?n=spencer-watson-seupel&pid=156015525&eid=sp_ommatch
Robert Turchick says
I’m glad we’re opening the case on State Patty’s Day again. I still reject the idea that Penn State has a “drinking culture” because I think that implies a problem that persists year round. The truth is, for whatever reason, this specific weekend seems to bring out the worst in people. I think it’s important to communicate to students that drinking (if you’re 21 years and older, of course) is not the issue. Drinking until your health is at risk, destroying the property of others, and jeopardizing the good name of family and community are the issues. I’m glad to see that ResLife is limiting the amount of guests students can have this weekend, because the foot traffic downtown on State Patty’s Weekend is absolutely intolerable, bringing excessive noise as well.
I’m interested in seeing what downtown businesses plan to do in collaboration with students and the mayor, because many of the downtown stores begin selling green PSU gear late in the fall. I’d like to see a list of stores that are against the pseudo holiday.