In the Top 10 Again! Is that Good?
Once again we find the University of Wisconsin (UW) - Madison listed in the Top 10 Party Schools of America. UW Madison has been in the Top 10 for many years and many consider it a point of honor. University officials don't always agree.
The Princeton Review raked UW Madison third in 2004, down from its number 2 spot in 2003. Some officials would like to see it fall off the list entirely. The annual "Best 357 Colleges" survey, conducted since 1992, bases its rankings on the responses they receive from 110,000 students around the country.
The methodology of the lists has been brought into question and cannot be considered scientifically correct. The "party school" category is based on questions focusing on the amount of alcohol and drug consumption, the amount of time students spend studying, and the popularity of fraternities and sororities.
The Party School ranking was published August 17, 2004. August 20, 2004, UW Madison was ranked seventh best among American public universities by U.S. News and World Report. It has held this same ranking for the last three years.
There at least two big parties associated with UW Madison every year. In the fall is the Halloween party that every year lately has gotten out of hand and ended with violence, property damage and arrests. For the last two years the Halloween celebrations, especially on the stretch of State St. near the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus, has turned violent with overturned bike racks, smashed windows and looted businesses.
The annual Halloween party may have as many as 65,000 to 100,000 people over two days. Not all are students from Madison. The event draws people from around the state and from neighboring states.
The student government at UW-Madison hopes to avert much of the destructive behavior of recent years with careful planning and alternative activities. They are suggesting family friendly events during the day and national headliners after midnight.
In the spring it is the Mifflin Street Block party. The Block party has a 35-year history of drinking, partying and listening to bands. It also has a history of violence, rioting, underage drinking and open intoxicants. Thousands of partiers fill the 400 and 500 blocks of Mifflin Street, the intersection with Bassett Street, sidewalks, lawns and porches
Police were fairly successful this year in banning glass bottles which have been shattered in the streets and thrown as weapons. They were not nearly as successful at keeping each house to four kegs of beer. Many kept the kegs out of sight during the Saturday parties, but early the next day many appeared in large pyramids of 20 or more kegs on the front lawns of Mifflin Street houses.
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