Thursday, October 25, 2007
Recently, the University of Kansas has been omitted from the Princeton Review’s list of the top party schools. While I am proud to hear about the academic excellence of our school, I do not see why our partying habits should change. One week of school could be stressful enough that partying on the weekend and taking a load off is earned, only to refuel the thinking caps on Sunday. Obviously, there are exceptions such as having a major test that coming Monday, but hey, a few beers just might help you relax and relieve the stress that college creates.
While there are the retorts of, “we don’t care what people think about us,” we should care because we are being judged by and compared to our peers, which in this country, most cases get settled by. The students at the University are a proud student body, and an example of their pride is displayed passionately at sporting events against our fellow peers at rival schools. I would like to imagine that a KU student would hold that passion in everything he or she does, whether it’s sports, academics or partying. I know I want it to look like the University is a fun school to go to, where you could get a good education and plenty of good memories to take with you into adulthood.
I’m not advocating for us to become raging alcoholics and desperate junkies, but I know I don’t want to look like lame ducks who don’t know how to have a good time. Nevertheless, the administration is gushing. We have become the good little robots that college likes to program when we will leave and become law-abiding citizens while we get handled daily, in the work week that is, by the Man. And since when is the administration and the student voice the same?
Another recent event is the elicited complaints from fans to the Athletics Department, where at college football games, students yell an obscenity. Associate Athletics Director Jim Marchiony was stated as saying, “We would hope that the student body could be more creative than that. That sentence takes no intelligence and no creativity to yell.”
I don’t think anybody, whether they are a student or an enthusiastic spectator, comes to a football game, watching guys beat each other up, and thinks, “What can I say to come off as intelligent and creative?” A football game is not the same as going to a Montel Williams show to discuss domestic abuse between partners. Everybody comes to a football game to see an exciting and violent display of athletes competing against each other; academics are the last thing on fans’ minds when they are watching a football game.
Is it wrong that a fan shows passion by yelling a phrase from a comedy movie? Are we, the student body, going to be pushed into what we can and can’t say? Are we going to be pushed into a mold that makes us sheep here at the University, or are we going to express our passion, individuality and insatiable desire to party? There is a time to study, there is a time to work, but there is also a time to party.
Brown is a Lee’s Summit, Mo., junior in journalism.
Letter to the Editor: Vulgar chant should ...
Kickoff yell serves as poor representation of University
Letter: One solution to the football chant
Student Senate coalitions announce their spring nominees
United Students, Envision and Students for Liberty will be on the ballot ...
Know your Student Senate candidates
Learn more about the candidates for Student Senate
Veterans’ transition not always smooth
Everything from receiving educational benefits to socializing with civilians can be a ...
Letter from Turner Gill: Football Alert
Read coach Turner Gill's letter to the student body about the upcoming ...
Overworked students' dangerous race against time
Is too much work and too little time putting students' health at ...
Leaving a lasting legacy
As Hemenway prepares to retire, he and others look back at how ...
Vulgar kickoff chant draws criticism
‘Muck Fizzou’ is on its way out, and the Athletics Department thinks ...
Letter to the Editor: Kickoff chant obscene
Students should ‘boo’ the chant at football games.
Letter: Why we should keep the kickoff ...
The party’s over: KU falls from list
Princetown Review left the University off the 2008 rankings of best party ...
Married? Yes. Graduated? No.
Some college students decide to add additional challenges of marriage to their ...
Freshmen compete for senate
Freshmen make their pitch for why they should be a senator.
Editorial: Chiefs chant at the end of ...
When students yell ‘Chiefs’ at the end of the National Anthem, we ...
Achieving two dreams
How student athletes juggle games and GPAs
Muselmann: Don’t let a problem ruin a ...
Often, things are more enjoyable when they don’t go as planned.
Letter to the Editor: Chancellor refuses to ...
The university claims academics are the number one priority, but on game ...
Students face religious dilemmas
At the college level, some students find growth in challenging spiritual beliefs.
Life as she knows it
Brown: Different season, same chant
Vulgar chant does not measure up to valued traditions.
Get to know your freshman Student Senate ...
Here are the freshmen running for Student Senate. The polls open on ...
Summer institute students a step ahead of ...
Incoming freshman participating in the Freshman Summer Institute learn to adapt to ...
University to replace ‘Muck Fizzou’ slogan
Last year, ESPN announced that it would not show KU students wearing ...
Alcohol on the brain: a look at ...
Binge drinking may have negative long-term effects that many students don’t realize.
To hell and back
A fight outside Naismith Hall began Thor Nystrom's year-long journey into the ...
Letter: Quit hating your home team football ...
Ditch some of the negativity before the next football game.
Land of the Jayhawks
It lives on our sweatshirts, it graces ESPN commercials, it entertains children ...
Shouting protesters no better than Ann Coulter’s ...
Good Afternoon Mrs. E
One-hundred-and-thirty-seven buildings occupy the 1,000-acre Lawrence campus and more than 100 are ...
Saturdays with Bob
How KU football brought my dad and me closer together.
Degrees of success: athletes after college
College athletes' payment is their degree. But what if they never get ...
Peer tutoring benefits tutored, tutors
Qualified students can still apply to receive tutoring from or to tutor ...
Roelser: Fox College Sports features KU
KU is featured on Fox College Sports’ new show “My Campus.”
In My World
I feel torn. I have to choose between the Deaf-World and the ...
Senior’s volleyball career winds down
Emily Brown, a four-year starter, has lived volleyball for a long time, ...
Best enemies
A sisterly tale wrought with rivalry
A sobering struggle
College students with alcoholism fight to overcome their addiction in an alcohol-infused ...
Longhorns ready for long haul
Roesler: A 'Billy Madison' offseason
Roesler draws comparisons of Billy Madison' to the KU football offseason.
From left: Kimberlee Hinkle, Libby Johnson and Hannah ...
1 comment
Kansas Jayhawk fans hold aloft a reproduction of ...
2 comments
Erin Saupe, a Ph.D. student from St. Cloud, ...
1 comment
0 comments
Armed robbers continue to threaten.
3 comments
Lecture from Greg Mortenson, co-author of New York ...
0 comments
Comments
Brown: Keep the party alive
True, there is a happy medium between partying too hard and studying too hard. However, most of the students I've encountered haven't found that medium. I'd be rich if I had a dime for everytime I heard someone say, "Oh dude, I'm so hungover I can't even concentrate. That party last night was wild!" Having one or two beers to unwind on a Friday night is one thing. Getting smashed every opportunity you get is something else all together!
Sign in to comment
Or login with:
OpenID