3 ways to fix whats broken at this university

            “This American Life” broadcast takes a weekend at Penn State and follows the some of the events that were happening during the night at various frat houses and parties.  The piece seems like it is pretty objective in presenting the picture of the Penn State party scene.  While I am no expert in this matter their coverage of what goes on during weekends and even weeknights did not surprise me in the slightest.  One thing that I was slightly appalled by was the police officers accommodation of minors breaking the law.  I would hope that the police would take a more aggressive stance on defending the law in this small town.  Another thing was the excuses that were made by the production crew.  We probably were the same at that age.  They are just kids.  

            Well I have a different view point on the matter of underage drinking.  It is my opinion that you attend a university to prepare you for the rest of your life while it is easy and they give lots of free time this should not be taken advantage of to break the laws of the country.  It is almost expected that kids who go to college will get drunk and go to parties nowadays.  I was asked about the party scene by lots of my friends and family when I returned home for breaks.  The questions were regarding how the parties were rather than whether I attended them.  This, at first, made me feel like I was missing out on a college experience.  But the more I thought about it I realized that I was in fact getting more of the college experience than the students who had weekends disappear from their memory, missed class because of a hangover, or experienced uncomfortable situations because of the over consumption of alcohol. 

            I feel the reputation of this university as a learning institution is severely tarnished by the actions of the students who think that the college experience is about getting drunk as often as possible.  The excuses that are made are that the partying is part of the culture.  Is it a good part of the culture is it something the school should take pride in?  Or that it is a way for students to blow of steam and too relax.  Is this a good way to do it shouldn’t they find better more productive and safe ways to relax.  

            And the university makes excuses too like there is nothing they can do about it.  But I sat down and thought a little bit about what they could do about it and I came up with 3 things that the university could do to almost completely squelch the partying that this great university is associated with.  1^st eliminate all traces of fraternities and sororities on the Penn state campus and discourage membership and revoke any subsidies that are granted to them by the university.  This will cut off the main distributers of alcohol on and off campus.  2^nd adopt a no tolerance policy towards underage drinking including the immediate expulsion of students caught violating the law.  This will greatly discourage the incentive to drink and push the culture back into the hole it crawled out of making it less socially acceptable to consume alcohol as a student.  Finally encourage the police to increase the arrest rate for public intoxication and bust  and to press charges against the students who are caught violating the law.

            I believe that if the university implements these three policies there will defiantly be loads of outrage from the students who participate in this behavior.  But in my opinion it will be supported by the State College community as it helps create a more safe university.  And this will discourage students from attending Penn State because they want a good party.  These policies would restore to the university some of the respect it loses every time it makes a top party school list.  I have no illusions that these policies are highly unlikely to be implemented in the near future but I wonder how many more deaths it will take till these policies are implemented or how much more embarrassment the alumni and students can take at the hands of the party culture at this university.