When the Princeton Review crowned Ohio University the nation’s No. 1 party school in August, it triggered the all-too-familiar tidal wave of responses from administrators, students and alumni.
OU President Roderick McDavis sent out an all-campus email, and Vice President for Student Affairs Kent Smith and Dean of Students Ryan Lombardi retaliated via social media — all arguing that the ranking was disappointing and devalued an Ohio University degree.
By recognizing the ranking, administrators add legitimacy to a scientifically flawed survey. Rather than devoting resources to firing back at a ranking that everyone knows does little to accurately reflect a campus’ environment, OU officials would be wise to avoid generating additional buzz for the party-school rankings.
When you tell a child not to do something, you should expect that child to promptly do the opposite. If you tell a student body it should be ashamed of the party-school ranking, it will only encourage students to embrace and celebrate that ranking.
On top of the fact that acknowledging the rankings spreads the word only further, OU’s leaders should take solace in knowing students’ notorious spring street fests — inarguably a leading contributor to OU’s party rankings — soon might be a thing of the past.
OU’s current academic schedule allows students to host fests in sunny weather as Spring Quarter progresses and other state universities have finished their second semesters.
But once OU switches to semesters, students will either have to bust out the kegs during February and March or hold the street fests in April, placing them dangerously close to spring finals. Neither of those options will allow for the thousands of students who usually make the trek to Athens, because their classes will still be in session.
Though we’re not in any rush to see the fests meet their demises, it’s hard to picture students raging on Mill and Palmer streets during a March blizzard or the weekend before finals week.
In the meantime, it’s important for campus leaders to focus their energy not on combatting irrelevant ranking but on promoting a safe campus environment.
Last spring, OU administrators worked more closely than previous years with city officials to help weather the fest season. Administrators should take a page out of Athens’ leadership book and be present and accessible during OU’s prime partying events.
Both Mayor Paul Wiehl and Athens Police Chief Tom Pyle were seen walking the streets and interacting with students at various fests. If promoting safe alcohol consumption is a priority of university leaders, we would encourage them to be more visible at the fests and on weekends.
They already log long hours during the week, but the occasional appearance on Court Street or Palmer Place could be a huge step toward curbing rowdy behavior and binge drinking on campus.
The administration clearly cares about risky student behaviors and alcohol safety on campus. So stop sweating these rankings, and let’s get back to what really matters — student safety.
Editorials represent the majority opinion of The Post’s executive editors.
