Three days after the University of Iowa suspended a sorority for a videotaped bid-day skit that referenced sex and binge drinking, UI made another party school list — coming in as Playboy’s runner-up.
Playboy on Monday named its 2015 top party schools, giving the top prize to Ohio University and the No. 2 spot to UI.
In their party campus analyses, Playboy writers cited UI’s fall from No. 1 on the Princeton Review party school list as motivation for students to “set their sights on reclaiming the throne.” Princeton ranked UI No. 1 in the party category in 2013, and No. 2 in both 2014 and 2015.
UI administrators long have battled binge drinking on campus and the party image that goes with it, but last week. members of the university’s Delta Epsilon chapter of Alpha Phi performed a rap skit on the house’s front porch that used a mashup of popular tracks to reference things like binge drinking and sex.
“Watch me chug, watch me shotgun, watch me chug, chug, now watch me blackout,” the girls sang in unison during the four-minute video that was posted on YouTube and widely circulated on websites like TotalFratMove.com
The chapter on Friday received “notice of interim suspension” from William R. Nelson, director of the Iowa Memorial Union and Center for Student Involvement and Leadership. The suspension prohibits the chapter from holding organized activities without the supervision of Alpha Phi International Headquarters staff or volunteers, alumnae advisers, or UI officials until a complaint is resolved by the Panhellenic Council Judicial Board, according to UI spokeswoman Jeneane Beck.
“The video is not reflective of the University of Iowa’s behavior expectations for student organizations on campus and does not represent our fraternity and sorority community as a whole,” Beck said in a statement.
Monday’s Playboy ranking does not mention the campus’ Greek culture, but instead references UI’s history with the nearby Iowa City bars, which have banned those under age 21 after 10 p.m. since 2010. The article incorrectly references a “loophole” finagled by the Union Bar, “home of the stickiest floor in the Midwest.”
The publication said the bar found an exception to the 21-only ordinance that allows it to admit patrons of any age until closing if it declares itself an “entertainment venue.”
“The resulting evidence of the Union’s Halloween bash is enough to make a Playboy editor blush,” according to the article.
Although the Union did win that exception briefly in 2014, city officials quickly yanked it, citing the bar’s high rate of underage possession tickets.
UI administrators historically have admitted that evidence shows UI students drink more heavily and experience more negative consequences than other college students nationally.
In response, the university in 2009 created an Alcohol Harm Reduction Advisory Committee involving students, faculty, staff. The university also partnered with the City of Iowa City to address the problem, and it has an Alcohol Harm Reduction Plan, outlining multiple research-based strategies.
“The goals of our plan address the needs of all students, including those who don’t drink, those who have experienced a problem as a result of their drinking, and everyone in between,” according to the UI Office of the Vice President for Student Life.
University reports show those efforts might be working. The average number of UI students who reported engaging in high-risk drinking dropped 17 percent from 2009 to 2013; the average number of drinks consumed by respondents dropped 20 percent during that same period; and the average number of students who reported drinking 10 or more days dropped 25 percent.
Other schools on Playboy’s party list include Florida State University at No. 3, Tulane University at No. 4, and the University of Illinois at No. 5.
http://www.thegazette.com/subject/n...university-of-iowa-no-2-party-school-20150914
Playboy on Monday named its 2015 top party schools, giving the top prize to Ohio University and the No. 2 spot to UI.
In their party campus analyses, Playboy writers cited UI’s fall from No. 1 on the Princeton Review party school list as motivation for students to “set their sights on reclaiming the throne.” Princeton ranked UI No. 1 in the party category in 2013, and No. 2 in both 2014 and 2015.
UI administrators long have battled binge drinking on campus and the party image that goes with it, but last week. members of the university’s Delta Epsilon chapter of Alpha Phi performed a rap skit on the house’s front porch that used a mashup of popular tracks to reference things like binge drinking and sex.
“Watch me chug, watch me shotgun, watch me chug, chug, now watch me blackout,” the girls sang in unison during the four-minute video that was posted on YouTube and widely circulated on websites like TotalFratMove.com
The chapter on Friday received “notice of interim suspension” from William R. Nelson, director of the Iowa Memorial Union and Center for Student Involvement and Leadership. The suspension prohibits the chapter from holding organized activities without the supervision of Alpha Phi International Headquarters staff or volunteers, alumnae advisers, or UI officials until a complaint is resolved by the Panhellenic Council Judicial Board, according to UI spokeswoman Jeneane Beck.
“The video is not reflective of the University of Iowa’s behavior expectations for student organizations on campus and does not represent our fraternity and sorority community as a whole,” Beck said in a statement.
Monday’s Playboy ranking does not mention the campus’ Greek culture, but instead references UI’s history with the nearby Iowa City bars, which have banned those under age 21 after 10 p.m. since 2010. The article incorrectly references a “loophole” finagled by the Union Bar, “home of the stickiest floor in the Midwest.”
The publication said the bar found an exception to the 21-only ordinance that allows it to admit patrons of any age until closing if it declares itself an “entertainment venue.”
“The resulting evidence of the Union’s Halloween bash is enough to make a Playboy editor blush,” according to the article.
Although the Union did win that exception briefly in 2014, city officials quickly yanked it, citing the bar’s high rate of underage possession tickets.
UI administrators historically have admitted that evidence shows UI students drink more heavily and experience more negative consequences than other college students nationally.
In response, the university in 2009 created an Alcohol Harm Reduction Advisory Committee involving students, faculty, staff. The university also partnered with the City of Iowa City to address the problem, and it has an Alcohol Harm Reduction Plan, outlining multiple research-based strategies.
“The goals of our plan address the needs of all students, including those who don’t drink, those who have experienced a problem as a result of their drinking, and everyone in between,” according to the UI Office of the Vice President for Student Life.
University reports show those efforts might be working. The average number of UI students who reported engaging in high-risk drinking dropped 17 percent from 2009 to 2013; the average number of drinks consumed by respondents dropped 20 percent during that same period; and the average number of students who reported drinking 10 or more days dropped 25 percent.
Other schools on Playboy’s party list include Florida State University at No. 3, Tulane University at No. 4, and the University of Illinois at No. 5.
http://www.thegazette.com/subject/n...university-of-iowa-no-2-party-school-20150914
