by University learning is not cheap. The annual fee for attending Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey is close to thirteen thousand dollars — for New Jersey residents who commute. For Princeton University students, it’s nearly forty thousand dollars per year. Why, then, would anyone even think about throwing away all that money for the purpose of getting drunk and in serious trouble when one can get drunk while not paying for every minute of every hour of every day through the nose?
Delta Upsilon will be suspended from taking part in campus activities and receiving school funding until Jan. 1, 2012, at which time the fraternity can petition to be returned to good standing.
“We’re disappointed that this particular fraternity didn’t learn from a past mistake,” said Purdue Associate Dean of Students Pablo Malavenda. “The length of the suspension shows that we do view this as serious, given the fact the fraternity was already on probation.”
Fraternities are supposed to get people together for a positive purpose — just read what one school wrote about the purpose of fraternities:
What is the purpose of fraternities and sororities?
Fraternities and sororities are values-based organizations that are guided by a mission/purpose statement. Fraternities and sororities can provide a well-rounded college experience that aids in the development of personal and professional skills for members. All of our fraternities and sororities provide opportunities for friendship, leadership, scholarship, service, social and professional advancement with a respect to the diversity of individual members.
In the time I have spent around fraternity gatherings at Rutgers, I can attest that none of the above paragraph is relevant to how the fraternities actually operate. They seemed to be more interested in getting people together to get drunk and party until the morning — at which point, presumably, the members would doze off and miss half of their classes.
I remember at Rutgers we once had a discussion about how binge drinking at colleges was widely more reported than it actually took place however it didn’t change the fact that I saw too much of it at Rutgers and it kept me pretty much entirely sober up until the point that I graduated.
The main purpose of University is to first and foremost get an education. The fun is secondary and not nearly as important.
I have booze on campus, Gordon. It’s funny how many universities have dry campuses, except on game day, when the Big Donors in the skyboxes can get as drunk as they wannnabe.
The smart thing we did in this country was to raise the drinking age from 18 to 21. It should really be 26, but I’ll take the additional three years because it’s better than nothing.
Do you feel that 25 year old people would quit drinking if they were told the drinking age were now 26?
No, they won’t quit — just like the 17-year-olds didn’t stop drinking when the age turned to 21 — but, the 15-year-olds waited for 21 just as I expect they would wait for 26.
I’m all for a dry campus. No drinking or you’re kick out of school. No exceptions.