This American Life profiled the party scene and campus structure in 2009, but most of the findings remain true today. Most notably, the university’s focus on football and binge drinking infiltrates every aspect of Penn State culture.
Penn State football games are day-long events that start at eight in the morning as families put their tents and chairs up. The romanticization of outdoor, public drinking in the morning is evident. Gatorade coolers filled with “jungle juice” line the grassy areas around Beaver Stadium. Several generations of a family and their friends congregate around the tent sipping on a beer as someone throws some burgers on the grill. To any regular tailgaters or Penn State student, the swaths of people in and around Beaver Stadium on game day is normal. Nonetheless, fans are still excited.
Although underage drinking and tailgating can seem negative, the sense of community it fosters is unmatched. Tailgaters are normally welcoming, offering you food and drinks even if they just met you. Countless games of cornhole, KanJam, football, and frisbee go on between the sea of parked cars and tents. Tailgates on such a massive scale may seem exorbitant to those outside the Penn State community, but for us, it’s an integral part of our university.
The binge-drinking and party culture at Penn State is another prominent aspect of our identity. On any given day, it’s normal to see “frat bros” hauling coolers or boxes of “Natty Light” up the street to their frat house. According to This American Life, some frats throw social events every day, often partying four times a week. Additionally, most non-Greek life students go out on the weekends as well (as evidenced by the sprawling lines outside bars on the weekends). It is estimated that 75% of Penn State students go out and over 50% of students regularly binge drink. These statistics are startling, especially when you note that over 25% of students report missing class or falling behind on schoolwork due to their drinking habits. Despite knowing that drinking is hazardous and destructive when overdone, students defend their “right” to drink vehemently despite Penn State administration’s efforts to curb drinking.
While universities such as MIT and UVA have passed stricter laws on the drinking and fraternities in the aftermath of Joe Dado‘s death in 2009, Penn State had a gentler reaction, which perhaps was a more effective strategy. Penn State administration knew they couldn’t alter students’ drinking habits – they had spent millions on having free movies, comedians, and other alcohol-free events to no avail – so they instead focused on educating students about safe drinking practices. Nowadays, no one goes out alone to a party or leaves by themselves. We all have a responsibility to look out for each other to prevent future deaths from happening.
We still have a long way to go in terms of making smarter decisions and curbing destructive drinking, but slowly, it’s become commonplace to acknowledge the danger with excessive drinking and reach out to others when we need help. Our blue and white paraphernalia and school spirit signify the community that is Penn State University.
September 9, 2019 at 7:51 pm
I love your summary of the podcast and the commonplaces about drinking and tailgating that you identified are very accurate. You might want to add a little more analysis answering the second part of the questions. Your analysis of the podcast was spot-on, but readers also want to hear your analysis of your own experiences here at Penn State in 2019 as opposed to 2009. I think your unique situation of being in Schreyer and ROTC would make for a very interesting post about what you’ve seen and how you interpret it. You might also want to link the podcast. I believe that tje J in KanJam should be capitalized.
“Take this analysis a step further. What “ideologies” do you see around you in classrooms and in the architecture of the campus (or dorm)? What “commonsense” decisions have been made to arrange the physical space of your classrooms, this campus, a particular building, the time allotted for our class, the way our course proceeds? How does the “ideology” or “common sense” of spaces on campus naturalize certain assumptions about the ways the world should work?”