“Kiss Me, I’m Wasted”

I’m totally digging the editorial board at Penn State University’s Daily Collegian right now for their editorial taking a stand against the t-shirts being sold for this year’s “State Patty’s Day.”

For some context I had to look into what the hell “State Patty’s Day” is, and apparently it’s an annual pre-spring break student holiday that’s been going on since 2007. It’s basically—surprise!—early St. Patrick’s day, with local merchants pulling out all the usual St. Patty’s stops like green beer and (although this is new for me) green-crusted pizza? Unsurprisingly, State Patty’s Day leads to a lot of alcohol related conduct violations, and last year the event’s founder actually publicly denounced it. In 2009, “police saw students vomiting or urinating on sidewalks in broad daylight. Drunken driving arrests were up, and more than 20 people needed emergency medical services.” The event’s founder called it “despicable…a real black eye for our community.” Despite some local bars agreeing not to participate, in 2010 the event went on as planned and local police got 365 calls, EMS got 53 calls (the majority of both were related to alcohol), and 160 were arrested.

AND it’s going to happen again this year. Which is where the t-shirts come in. Two students started a facebook event to sell t-shirts for State Patty’s Day 2011 that say, “Kiss Me, I’m Wasted.” (Get it! Like “Kiss Me, I’m Irish,” only making light of the serious issue of alcohol and consent! HAHAHA LOL.)

The Daily Collegian editorial touches on the issue of sexual assault (nice job, ya’ll!!), but focuses more on the impact the event has on the school’s reputation, as well as the fact that the t-shirts were not designed by a student:

This seems like another way for students and visitors from outside of Penn State to take advantage of our hospitality, our sense of community and our party-school reputation.

Last year, 150 of the 241 citations issued by police during State Patty’s Day came from non-students.

Now it’s outsiders who are contributing to our infamous party-school standing.

And worse, they are beginning to make money off of it.

I like the “community” framework a lot. We talk about “campus community” all the time at SAFER, the idea being that not only should school administrations be accountable to their students, but students should be accountable to each other and want to create a community that is safe and doesn’t tolerate violence. Speaking up about stuff like this is one way to hold your fellow students accountable.