A Dry Campus Full of Hot Air

[This was taken at the Christmas on the Hill dance. For those who can't figure out what it is: it's a giant inflatable beer mug that reads "The Party is Here!" Nice message, SHU.]

Everyone I've talked to that's been to Seton Hill seems to agree that one of the most beautiful events SHU holds is "Christmas on the Hill." Alumni/family friends look back on the event as a magical evening. People I've met at St. Vincent's College tell me how much they've enjoyed attending this wonderful holiday event. I, of course, agree. The dinner is one of the finest meals one will experience here on the Hill, and the decorations are unbelievably beautiful. The mass, which usually follows the dinner, is always a special experience filled with reverence and grace.

The dance... that's another story.

SHU make's a few fatal mistakes when it comes down to the timetable of events. They have the dinner, they have the mass, and they have an hour after the mass until the dance starts. This means that alot (but I won't say the majority, since me and my comrades don't) scatter to their rooms or off campus to get plastered. The dance starts off slow, but after about half an hour, a large group of people shows up, drunk off their rockers. Now, in years past this has been a large problem. This year promised to be different. This year SHU swore to keep things under control. They hired more campus security officers, bunches of RA's were on duty, roaming about with clipboards... and in a sense, they were more successful. This year they didn't search every room in Farrell, like last year.

And yet, as is always the case, SHU makes a couple steps forward and a couple steps backwards. A prime example is the ridiculous inflatable beer mug that the "Disc Jockey's" employed during the dance. Wasn't SHU at all concerned with the message or image that these DJ's were presenting? The mug, which had inflated foam spewing over its lip, read, "The Party is Here." What do they think we are? A state school? And then after it was up, no one told them to take it down... so while these hoards of students are "bumping" and "grinding" and looking absolutely ridiculous, SHU is doing nothing about the DJ's message of "you have to be drunk to have a good time."

Leave it to say, that after about two hours of milling about this dance (and after they started playing the second terrible Fall Out Boy song of the evening), we made like trees and left. Maybe next year SHU can work on getting a big inflatable vodka bottle and dime bag.

Posted by MikeRubino at December 11, 2005 12:46 AM | TrackBack