Town and Gown (and beer)

Griffy the Golden Griffin reminds you to behave yourself.We got a letter from Canisius College recently asking us to urge our son not to party too hard during their annual Spring Fest event. It was dated — ironically — March 17, 2010.

Let me just say that I am shocked… SHOCKED to find that there is drinking going on at Canisius! When I was in school, we spent our spare time in the library studying and writing papers.

The college is concerned that kids would rather drink off campus than attend the official event, an alcohol-free celebration with music, food, and other fun stuff that doesn’t involve booze. Hahaha… “Fun stuff that doesn’t involve booze.”

And they’re serious about keeping order. The letter says:

Canisius College seniors who break New York State laws or violate our community standards will not be permitted to “walk” at graduation and underclassmen may face suspension for a semester.

Actually, little Canisius College is no slouch when it comes to spring flings.

In 2008, Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown ordered hundreds of cops into the neighborhood surrounding Canisius — including armored vehicles and SWAT teams clad in camo — to keep the peace during the student party. The streets around the school were flooded with police. Some say Brown was just mad that the college served up videotapes that implicated his son in criminal charges involving a borrowed car.

Sure, I’ll tell him to take it easy, but you know, he’s 22-years-old.

Old enough to drink, old enough to make his own decisions, and old enough that he’ll most likely be on his way to Afghanistan with the National Guard this time next year. But if I could I’d turn back the clock and make him 10-years-old again.

5 thoughts on “Town and Gown (and beer)

  1. I’ve visited Canisius College several times in the past two years; the Koessler Athletic Center hosts the Buffalo Stampede, a professional team in the Premier Basketball League.

  2. My daughter is at Geneseo. They have something called “G.R.E.A.T. Day” coming up soon . . . http://www.geneseo.edu/great_day/about . . .

    The date of the event is April 20. Google 4/20 (or 4:20) if that doesn’t mean anything to you.

    So on 4/20, Geneseo is giving the students the day off to, like, hang out and do culture and stuff, man. Excellent!!!

    I guess they figure if they can’t beat ’em, then they’d may as well play along . . .

  3. I used to enjoy the fun and fellowship at Vassar College’s Founder’s Day festivities every spring. Matthew Vassar made his fortune, as everyone knows, as a brewer, so until the 1986 festivities, when the drinking age was raised to 21, the whole campus was delightfully sudsed up.

    Post-1986, when drinking was legally restricted to students over 21, which excluded more than half the school, I was compelled to buy cases of Meisterbrau or similarly popularly priced brands and distribute them among the masses of the unserved. Like Johnny Beerseed, I planted good cheer among the highly achieving young people who had been enjoined by a well-intentioned but ultimately fruitless piece of legislation from enjoying a cold brew on a hot day. I asked for no reward except gratitude. Them was the days.

  4. re: 4

    Yes, that’s it: 1 Kings 4:20, “Judah and Israel were as numerous as the sand that is on the seashore in abundance; they were eating and drinking and rejoicing.”

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