#1 Party School

I found the broadcast “#1 Party School”, by This American Life, to be hilarious and quite entertaining. Since I am a Penn Stater, I found myself able to relate to many of these issues; the tailgates, parties, academics. The investigators truly did capture the essence of a weekend at PSU, the frat life was right on target. Their descriptions, one-on-one confrontations with students, as well as quoting the president assisted in the vivid imagery portrayed throughout the broadcast. I could relate to everything from, “fratkets”, crazy tailgates, girls in ridiculously short skirts and heels that look like they could break ankles, the “drunk bus” breaking out in song, and experiences on frat row. Two weekends ago, I saw a girl “discreetly” peeing in, what she thought to be a bush, directly on frat row! The amount of drunken teens here is insane! As a matter of fact, the girl was wearing a skirt and high heels to. On few occasions, I have seen girls in heels fall flat on their faces, I have seen multiple people walk into poles, fall out of the busses, Oh, and fall face first into bushes. The first description of the Frat houses was hilarious “the thick muck covering the floor”, he couldn’t have described it better. The frat houses are sticky and sweaty, people dance, the windows ARE covered with garbage bags, and it is quite disgusting. The frats sort of make you feel like you are in a dirty club.

Although drinking may be fun, and the stories are hilarious, it can be dangerous. The university cannot stop it, but there are ways to regulate the drinking and keep it safe. They describe drinking to be something that brings us together in this Happy Valley. They interview tailgaters who claim that, “it is just something to do”. The investigative reporters depict how drinking is fun but many students drink way over the top. They discuss the drunken escapades of teens making the students sound idiotic and ridiculous, which sort of puts drinking in a new perspective.

Students drink, and do not think of the repercussions of their actions. The investigators continue to discuss how the issue of drinking affects different students around the campus. They quote President, Graham Spanier’s issues with cleaning up the mess to the Publicity and Alumni that the students here at PSU create. The investigators even talk to a boy who had to quit a frat because he was falling behind with his academics. This, however shows that some teens are smart about drinking and not all live by the alcoholic and barbaric stereotypes that go along with this school. The ingestions truly capture the essence of PSU nightlife and parties, however they effectively portray the dangers of drinking as well. The broadcast does an excellent job doing this by later flipping the mood around by talking about Joe Dado’s death. I feel discussing the death showed how harmful and hazardous drinking truly can be. It made students reevaluate if they actually want that “#1 Party School” title. The baggage that comes along with such a title is one that may be to much to handle. Death is a serious matter, especially when tied in with drinking. Whose fault is it? The school for allowing the drinking to occur? The frat for allowing this boy to drink too much? Drinking in this instance, is a HUGE problem on campus. We know it can not be stopped, but a better look out could be beneficial. This instance completely altered the mood of the investigative report, and changed the “woo-hoo!” emotion of the partying title to something sorrowful and regretful.

The investigators do a great job capturing the essence of Penn State, but what I also liked is that in the end, they made a valid point about drinking and what it means to hold that title. The investigators truly found a lot of information to back up the point they were trying to make.