UD quoted this University of Iowa student’s comment – to a policeman – in an earlier post (the policeman was trying to remind the fraternity member that in the wake of more than ordinary frat-carnage, Iowa fraternities weren’t allowed to put on private drinking events, even though some brazenly continue to do this) because it’s so pithy a summary of the fraternity/sorority situation at many American universities (“the party school is itself a business.”). As UD has often pointed out, the routine response of schools to routine death and near-death at their frats is temporary shut-down of this or that group, or totally ignored sanctions. This article looks at the problem in depth.
January 27th, 2019 at 5:26PM
one of the problems is that the school offers next to nothing for undergrads to do on the weekends a situation that local bars are all too happy to cash in on, if we had any teeth in our punishment for serving underage drinkers and a bit of enforcement that would help some, as it is too many moneyed interests at play, was talking to one of our city engineers about all the damage done to property as the drunk kids weave their ways home and how that’s a kind of hidden tax on local property owners and other citizens.
January 28th, 2019 at 7:26AM
dmf: Interesting to read those details. When you write “drunk kids weave their ways home” I’m reminded of campuses like Wisconsin Lacrosse, where remarkable numbers of them fall into the river. Any water features near campus?