[Orin Kerr, February 3, 2007 at 3:05pm] Trackbacks
"It's Drinkin' Time!":
I haven't been on a college campus tour in a long time, but here's a pretty good prank courtesy of the Dartmouth Jack-O-Lantern. (The prank begins after about 45 seconds.)
Prospective students turned off by that during the tour probably didn't want to go to Dartmouth anyway. Hat tip: The IvyGate Blog

  UPDATE: In the comment thread, "Q the Enchanter" writes, "Isn't this an indictment of our entire American society?" Dean Wormer, is that you?
Daniel Chapman (mail):
The University of Wisconsin system salutes you, Dartmouth!
2.3.2007 4:29pm
liberty (mail) (www):
Congrats to the tour guide for keeping a straight face as he said there was no more partying at Dartmouth than at any other school.
2.3.2007 4:35pm
John Burgess (mail) (www):
I note the expressions of the parents--looking at $40K+/annum tuition--were something less than enchanted.

As a parent of a soon-to-graduate Ivy League senior, I can understand the disenchantment.
2.3.2007 4:53pm
John Tabin (mail) (www):
Trivia for Animal House:
Co-writer Chris Miller based the National Lampoon short stories that gave rise to the film on his experiences in the Alpha Delta Phi fraternity at Dartmouth (from which he graduated in 1962).
2.3.2007 5:03pm
Andrew Hyman (mail) (www):
It's a small place, but there are some who love drinking there.
2.3.2007 5:03pm
Q the Enchanter (mail) (www):
Isn't this an indictment of our entire American society?
2.3.2007 5:19pm
FantasiaWHT:
(The Tour Director at the end) "Any questions about Greek life?"

Nope, that pretty much explains it all, thanks!

hehe
2.3.2007 6:13pm
Lively:
If you have access to "Facebook", look at how many college kids get their picture taken with "a drink." It's a big deal and it shows how cool you are to get your picture taken with a drink in your hand.
2.3.2007 7:38pm
Fury:
In 1983, I had a chance to drive my brother to Cornell for the start of his sophomore year. He was in a fraternity (name withheld) and I helped him move his belongings into what could best be described as a stone "cave" in the house. I'd never seen anything like it. The place was a complete mess, except for the kitchen - that was spotless thanks to the house mother.

I don't think anyone drank a drop of water in that place, because there was case-upon-case of beer stacked from floor to ceiling. The pool was still unusable - having had paint poured into it over the Summer by a rival fraternity.

My brother said those were some of the memorable years of his life - I'm surprised he can even remember them.
2.3.2007 7:43pm
Rockledge?:
The pool was still unusable

Isn't Rockledge the only fraternity at Cornell with their own pool?
2.3.2007 11:14pm
Kovarsky (mail):
yeah the stodgy ivy league types don't hit the sauce much. completely misrepresentative of dartmouth in particular.
2.4.2007 12:13am
Tully (mail) (www):
Isn't this an indictment of our entire American society?

I'd settle for an indictment of our educational institutions in general. :-)
2.4.2007 1:33am
David M. Nieporent (www):
"You know what I blame this on the breakdown of? Society."
2.4.2007 2:22am
Joe Veenstra (mail):
When I was a sophomore at UW-Madison, we were playing basketball on campus and a tour group came through. Someone came up with the splendid idea that we play nude from the waist down, so everyone pulled their shorts, etc., down and we "played" for a couple of minutes while the aghast parents roamed by with the embarrassed guide. Immature yes, fun, yes.
2.4.2007 2:55am
ReVonna LaSchatze:
Just remember kids:
Alcohol can kill, especially thin built women.

I knew a young woman graduated Marquette (yep, Marquett Daniel Chapman) this year, went out drinking with friends Friday night, slept a bit, called her mother in the morning as she did daily, then went out for a champagne brunch on Saturday morning... More drinking during the ND game, somebody in the bar maybe buys you and your friends shots. She felt ill, went outside to fall asleep in the car, and when friends checked on her at half-time, she was dead.

True story. 22, a week away from 23.

Alcohol is a drug, and can kill especially when you're drinking socially with friends and ignorning limits. This really is the opposite of what campuses preach ... that kids are indestructible and alcohol is just a fun substance to binge on, like sugar.

It's not. I hope your families never have to go to a funeral of a young person who od'd on alcohol. It's not fun.
2.4.2007 7:42am
No name needed:
That's why marijuana is better than alcohol, you can't die from smoking too much.
2.4.2007 10:35am
MnZ (mail):

That's why marijuana is better than alcohol, you can't die from smoking too much.


Hmmm...perhaps we should build structures using only materials from the marijuana plants in the future. It might eliminate deaths from smoke inhalation.
2.4.2007 11:46am
Ryan McCarl (www):
Let's keep things in perspective. There is a culture of drinking on college campuses, and there always has been, but college kids are a very diverse bunch. Some drink to stupidity, some drink modestly and socially, and others don't drink at all. Contrary to what another commentator suggested, I don't think one must be photographed and seen drinking to be considered "cool." My experience is that the "cool/uncool" divide disappears (thank heavens) after high school.

(I'm a junior at the University of Chicago)
2.4.2007 11:50am
meld:
Rockledge definitely doesn't have a pool -- they barely have enough room for a driveway -- they are perched on a ledge of rock overlooking a gorge. I don't remember all that well -- but it could be Sigma Chi with a pool. Good times -- I loved Cornell.
2.4.2007 2:49pm
Rockledge?:
You're right on meld, it's Sigma Chi that has a pool. I was thinking Llenroc had a pool, but wrote "Rockledge". Rockledge doesn't have a pool (neither does Llenroc) but I'm sure Rockledge has a cave... I don't think anyone lives down there though.
2.4.2007 5:04pm
Daniel Chapman (mail):
What? You mean alcohol's BAD FOR YOU?? Why didn't someone TELL ME? I think I should sue Miller...
2.4.2007 7:18pm
Houston Lawyer:
That prank was inspired. It warms my heart to know that college students haven't changed much since I went.
2.5.2007 10:34am
John M. Perkins (mail):
Ryan McCarl,

I learned more at Jimmy's than in class.
Yes, I attended and was prepared for class.
2.5.2007 12:40pm
Nony Mouse:
As someone who went to school at a location that has certain drinking traditions, I can say that there were times that alcohol threatened the lives of students while I was on campus. I can also say, however, that no young woman who had been drinking would have been allowed by her friends to go off by herself to her car to “sleep it off” (at least, none of my friends or I would ever have countenanced such a thing – there would be far too many things that could go wrong). For every story one of my professors told about some students who came and got him when someone had obviously had too much and had him call for an ambulance while the students took up posts to guide the responders to the drunken sot there was an equal and opposite story of someone who found they had to study for theoretical physics drunk, because that was the only way the class made sense.
2.5.2007 1:30pm
public defender:
if only we could harness that energy for good!
2.5.2007 2:25pm
rightwingprof (mail) (www):
This really is the opposite of what campuses preach


Actually, most campuses (if you're referring to campus policy, and not students) are extremely restrictive with respect to their alcohol policies. And since I got my degree at a party school, let me point out to those of you who are taking this seriously that there is a huge difference between students partying and thousands of drunken students rioting in the streets and turning over cars.
2.5.2007 2:39pm