I wholeheartedly agree that Miami in many ways deserves its spoiled rich kid reputation. On the other hand you're doing a lot of people who went there a disservice by ranking it anywhere near the level of Cleveland State. Its no Ivy League, but its a pretty good school for certain things, I've gotten a lot of very positive reactions from potential employers with my degree. There are plenty of spoiled rich kids, but just because they're spoiled doesn't mean they're stupid. That reputation exists for a reason, but I know plenty of down to earth, intelligent people who went there too.
This. And honestly, the last group he mentioned make up a large majority of the student population. Yes there are a good amount of "rich kids", but they are surpassed by a bunch of intelligent middle-class to upper middle class kids. They may have come from nice houses or have parents who drive nice cars, but they aren't able to buy their way out of every crisis and don't light their cigars with $100 bills. However, this is overridden by the stereotype from people who knew that one obnoxious rich kid who went to Miami or that have a fucking stick up their ass about the school like our rich suburb name-dropping friend Racecar here, who clearly didn't get along with a few kids from HS that went to Miami. The fact that you compare it to Cleveland State and immediately start trying to discount the institution itself before you get to the true aim of your anger (select students or "fags" if you will), erases your credibility pretty fast. In the same light, the majority of the 15K undergraduates at Miami drink, party, and interact without being destructive asshats unlike the assorted shitheads at these 2 parties. Just because they acted irresponsibly and like spoiled brats doesn't mean its a debaucherous campus hell bent on vandalism and disrespect to anyone who tells them otherwise. The most upsetting thing to me is reading about how certain parents in Ohio are aiming their children away from Miami cause of this new "reputation." Thats just short sighted to me. Its still a excellent school with a beautiful campus and a large number of normal, non vomit prone students. Were they similarly guiding their kids away from BU cause the Craigslist killer went there?
I didn't mean that it was close in academic standards to Cleveland State. What I was getting at is that there aren't many people in high school who try and don't manage to get the grades to get into Miami. It isn't a hard school to get into, and someone who is honestly stupid enough to try and legitimately not be able to get the grades to get into Miami probably isn't going to any college but a community college. Yeah, I know plenty of down to earth, smart people that go to Miami too. Then again, I'm sure I could find just as many down to earth, normal people that go to BGSU, Kent, or OU. It's just that compared to most other schools you don't find nearly as high a concentration of spoiled rich kids as you will at Miami, hence the reputation.
These shameful pretentious acts do not fit in line with Pi Beta Phi's tradition of civilized pretentiousness. Once news broke about Miami's Pi Phi's, I thought to myself that the same behaviors from OU's Pi Phi's or any of OU Greek Life would not surprise me at all. They were the most attractive girls, but they were also the dumbest, cattiest, most spoiled collection of lost souls I've ever encountered. I graduated from Ohio University in 2008 and I was a member of one of the social fraternities. I had a lot of fun and met some amazing friends, but if they were to shut the doors on fraternities and sororities across America, I'm not so sure that I would care. It seems to me that we have/had an elevated and inaccurate sense of self-importance. Any time Greek Life was called on to be a positive presence in the community, it was like 5% of Greeks really put in genuine effort while everyone else signed the attendance sheet and left. As far as this being an Ohio thing...I don't know if I can put my finger on it. If I had to guess, I'd explain it like this: Miami University and Ohio University are located in Oxford and Athens, respectively. These cities would only be places to stop and buy gas if the universities weren't there. At least Athens lies in the foothills of Appalachia and there's some semblance of culture. Oxford is for corn farmers and retirees. Most of the students of these schools hail from Cincinnati, Cleveland, and Columbus. I feel like they arrive at school bringing this jaded mindset that they come from unglamorous places. These are not commuter schools, and when you bring these mindsets together, miles away from any metropolis, with senses of freedom and independence, you uncork some bottled, aggressive tension. There are famous functions at these cities (I'm not saying schools because Green Beer Day and Palmerfest are not sanctioned by the university) that seem to have no theme other than get as drunk as humanly possible. This is the main reason why I never attended Palmerfest while at OU. I just had no interest. I do think it's necessary to point out that most of the kids arrested at Palmerfest (which has ended in fires, horse cops, and riot gear the last two years...I wonder how much longer it will be until someone gets killed at one of these things) and Halloween are not Ohio University students, but visitors from other schools. Then again, when this happens, I think you also have to blame the hosts for allowing their guests to trash the place. Oh, and University of Dayton wants to join the party: http://www.daytondailynews.com/news/crime/ud-sorority-disciplined-for-wild-party-705529.html
This is always a good place to start: Playboy's Top 10 Party Schools 2010 1. University of Texas at Austin 2. West Virginia University 3. University of Wisconsin-Madison 4. University of Miami 5. East Carolina University 6. Arizona State University 7. Rollins College 8. University of California-Santa Barbara 9. Plymouth State University 10. University of Iowa I spent 3 years starting a frat with my friends, and at this point, it's against my best interest to say anything about it, because of the perception frats get thanks to shit like this. Jesus Christ, these bitches acted like baboons. Ugh. I don't care who or what your daddy is, you hold it together in public, you have frat row for that sort of shit. Focus: I will agree with the WVU statement, that place can get a little out of hand. I can also vouch for ECU, it's a tiny college town with a few little factories, nothing else to do there but get absolutely hammered. One of my friends who went there said that she went to about 3 morning classes where she didn't smell any alcohol on anyone. She graduated in 5 years. Ohio is a shithole, which to me, does not make it a party state (Much the same can be said of West Virginia). Sorry Texas, Georgia, NC and Louisiana, most of the south can be safely eliminated (bizarre alcohol laws, dry counties, stereotypical southern police officers), except Florida. I hate that place so much it makes my pee burn, but that is the state for the best parties. Several big football schools, huge colleges, plenty of sporting events, concerts, beaches everywhere, and at least 10 vacation spots. There is usually all kinds of shit to do there, because you can stand to be outside the entire year, unlike fucking Ohio.
For me, Ohio has been nothing but a drive-thru state on my way between home and Milwaukee or vice-versa. I think I made a business trip to Cincinnati once, but obviously it wasn't all that memorable. I would say MU was an average party school back in the 80s. The drinking age was 18 when I was there, and there were plenty of bars surrounding the campus and while there were fraternities on campus, they weren't very popular. Most were populated by guys on the 5, 6, or 7 year plans--you know, the over-achievers. We did trek to UW-Madison though, every Halloween, and it was always a depraved event that would make Bacchus jealous.
I don't see this as exclusively an Ohio thing. I went to school in Virginia, and the description of this sorority formal is practically no different than many of the sorority formals I attended. A bunch of really hot and too rich for their own good girls, and their dates going nuts. Check. Sex in the venue's bathrooms, dark hallways, etc? Check. Puking everywhere? Check. Pissing everywhere? Check. At one of the events one of my lacrosse teammates just threw his glass to the ground and shattered it everytime he finished his drink (Ha, now that I think of it he is from Ohio. Upper Arlington). Three formals a year for 4 years, and the sorority was never allowed back to the same venue twice. It certainly looks bad on the group as a whole, but you can't really judge a particular state, college, or even an associated person simply based on one of these events, or even a particular group that continually holds these events. On the other hand, my cousin and her husband both went to Miami. They are two of the smartest and most respectable people I know. Both graduated and went on to become wildly successful, one on Wall Street and the other as an architect. They're very social people, and did their share of partying, but I guarantee they weren't ever a part of something like that. My old man went to BGSU, and well, nevermind. That behavior sounds about par for the course concerning him and his lax heathens. I'd say he turned out pretty good though.
I also want to add that Miami and Ohio are not at all diverse, and I think that factors into the equation. Over 80% of the student populations are suburban white kids, or as I used to describe to my non-OU friends, bunch of Dave Matthews fans. The most racially-diverse public schools in Ohio (UC, Ohio State, Cleveland State, Akron) are all close to urban areas. It may be a gross generalization, but suburban white kids like to party, and when you get that many common interests together in an isolated part of the state. West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Ole Miss have party-school reputations and I think they are congruent with this description as well.
Yeah a friend of mine that went there used to bring up the diversity stats every time he came down to party at UC. We were suburban and white but he's far from a rich bratty kid as they come. His girlfriend was in a sorority up there but I don't think she was part of the one that trashed the Freedom Center. She is a power drinker though who pounds shots more than most girls Ive known. She once showed us a nudie pic of a knock out blonde that was in a competing sorority, the girl was a triplet with two other twin sisters.
I went to the University of Iowa, and while we have a well-deserved reputation for partying hard, we don't have a signature holiday/event that produces the massive riots and such that other schools have. Frankly though, we had little need for it. The reason for this is to get into the bars, you only have to be 19 years old. And when I first started there, the age of entry was only 18. There's talk that the entry age will be raised to 21, but until that happens, it is/was ridiculously easy to drink in the bars in Iowa City. My friends and I would go to the bars freshman year, and once in, none of the bartenders cared about serving underage students. The only risk was getting busted for MIP when the cops would make their rounds of each bar, but if you were aware of what was going on, it was pretty easy to avoid those. I had plenty of close calls, but escaped undergrad with no drinking tickets, and I went out 4-5 nights a week. It seemed that when you could drink as much as you want every night of the week, you don't need a massive event to make it even easier. The funnest event that I attended at another school was Halloween in Madison. As described by others, it is a crazy event. I was fortunate enough to be watching a riot from a safe distance, and I could see the cloud of tear gas growing as people started running up the street away from the cops. As others have said about some of the big events, it gets crazy because of the sheer amount of people who come from other schools. I've heard that State Street (the main strip of bars and action in Madison) can see over 100,000 people on Halloween, and the school has probably about 30,000 students, so the majority are not students at UW. It is a great event though, people go all out on their costumes, and it is just a fun environment to be in.
I am shocked and appalled that no one has brought up McGill in Montreal, because best to my knowledge when it comes to partying this school will dress you up in a halter top and braid your hair with prison-tattooed fingers. I guess it doesn't count on that Playboy list because it's from a "foreign country", but you'll be hard pressed to find a wilder school on this side of the world aside from Arizona Slut State.
Behavior like this is completely out of line and ridiculous, I'm not condoning this behavior in any way at all, but why the hell would they host a sorority formal in such a historic, classy, pristine venue in the first place? Anyone who pays any attention at all knows that formal dances in college tend to get out of hand, or are at least on the brink of it; EVERYONE at least pregames them, some will get really drunk and out of hand. Even if aggressive behavior isn't a problem, there still will be a major mess left behind with spilled drinks, broken glasses, and the potential for a guest vomiting. With such impending disaster, why, as a museum/art center would you put yourself in that situation to begin with?
Zeta Tau Alpha, come on down! You're the third sorority to embarass Miami University. Another Miami sorority punished for unruly behavior This is especially fun for me. My mom was a ZTA at Miami.
UCSB and SBCC have a huge party scene too. Halloween is an amazing time, despite not being as big as Madison and Ohio U. Along with the massive Halloween party on the streets of Isla Vista, there's also Floatopia the last few springs, a huge party in the waters where everyone just drinks in the water on rafts. The police force was costing the city some horrendous amount and this past year, it was actually cancelled, so San Diego has taken the Floatopia baton recently.
Hahaha.. funny you should say that... Guess What? ZTA just got kicked off. That makes three. Read on: <a class="postlink" href="http://www.brobible.com/story/13158307/third-miami-university-sorority-hot-water-drunken-debaucherous-formal-zoo" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.brobible.com/story/13158307/ ... formal-zoo</a>