Well, That’s That

Well, you all did it. Because of all of you joining that facebook event, reading this blog (nearly 4,700 times!) and generally being discontented, the message got across. For the few of you who read the opening post of this blog, you know we didn’t expect anything like the support and readership we ended up getting, and for that we thank you. We wanted to let the administration know that Georgetown students knew that there was an alternative to blindly following whatever the powers that be decreed. Margaret Mead once said- in a way that I’m sure wasn’t cliched at the time- “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” As far as we are concerned- and as far as Georgetown is concerned- that quote might as well be modified to say “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people who are paying the people who make decisions nearly 60k a year can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has, especially when the decision-makers realize who they are, and should be, beholden to.” We all owe a lot to Georgetown; it’s given us a place to learn, to live, make lifelong friends and earn a degree that the outside world apparently values. But we shouldn’t ever forget that we as students contribute something as well to Georgetown and have no obligation to just roll over when the administration makes a decision we don’t like.

There should always be dialogue, and that was lacking this time. Apparently taking a lesson from my freshman year, Georgetown decided to give the students little warning that they were going to change Georgetown Day. Like, freshman year, though, the students made enough noise that the administration changed it.

We don’t want to be downers on this day, the student body’s day of relative success but it is still our hope- as it was when we started this blog about 30 hours ago- that we preserve the tradition that we saw for next year, not just this one. Know that this return to last year’s standards is not something that the administrators should be able to chip away at further. We don’t know how tomorrow is going to go, and at least some of us (such as the people writing this) are natural cynics. Maybe they’ll look the other way when some/most people smuggle mixed drinks in bottles onto the lawn. Maybe they won’t. And if they won’t- and they insist on making tomorrow the same as it was normally intended to be, only without the cattle pens- then I hope people realize that.

It is in their interest to keep you on campus and away from the neighbors that they are so handcuffed by. And allowing you to drink in a semi-controlled environment is safer than driving you underage folks into your dorms to take irresponsible (yet understandable, for those of us who think the 21 drinking age is stupid, but we digress) amounts of shots. And letting people drink and hang out together on Copley Lawn without too many restrictions that vaunted sense of community they wouldn’t stop prattling about.

And finally, we want to reiterate that none of this was ever intended to be personal. We kept it- and are going to keep it, unlike Jed and Sam, who deserve everyone’s thanks- anonymous, but we never wanted that to be a cloak behind which we could take unnecessary shots at people. Chris Butterworth became a “target” simply because he’s the one that sent an email to the senior class, and because it was an email that we felt presented a view that was simply wrong and overly favorable to the administration. We admire the work that he and the rest of the senior class committee have done this year, particularly for both Dis-Os and senior week. The way the administration set them up for failure was unfair, although we do feel they should’ve sold out less to defend the administration’s stupid policies than they did.

Anyways, that’s it. We hope nobody will have to object so strenuously (and vulgarly) to an administration decision again, but we’re not too hopeful. Until then, Hoya Saxa and HAPPY GEORGETOWN DAY.

WTF x2: A “Senior Class Leader” Enters the Fray. Poorly.

Last night, seniors received this email from Chris, the head of the Senior Class Committee and one of the principal student planners of Georgetown Day. Far be it from us to post an analysis of that email without posting its text, so here we go on a magical mystery tour of the tone-deaf hilarity that is Georgetown trying to do damage control after sadly underestimating just how much the student body loves Georgetown Day:

This note isn’t going to hit all of you. For those of you it doesn’t, I hope you receive it somehow. But for those of you who are reading this, I ask you take a minute to consider a point of view.

Want it to reach everyone? Post it on that facebook group. And I’m totally open to considering a point of view, so go right ahead! Just try not to be a douche about it!

Some of you know me, some of you know of me,

Some of you know of me? Oh, you must be on the basketball team, right? No? Are you Calen and Jason? The guy with the awesome mustache who graduated last year? Have you been arrested and/or spotted in a porn movie? Okay, my knowledge of campus celebrities is wearing thin, you’re going to have to help me out…

and some of you don’t know me at all. For those who don’t I’m Chris – I’ve chaired the Senior Class Committee this year for our class, the Class of 2012.

OH! You’re some dude named Chris! Yeah, I totally text my friends when I spot you in Leos.

All year, it’s been my job to get to know you,

Well mission not accomplished, apparently.

to plan events for you, to stand up for you and your rights, but most importantly to help you make the most of our last year at Georgetown together.

Yeah, let’s just have you stick to the event planning. We have GUSA to stand up for our rights (totally kidding). Plus, some of our parents are attorneys.

With limited time and limited resources, our team works hard to put on and coordinate so many of the opportunities that you see as Seniors, from Dis-O to Senior Parents Weekend, to the up and coming Senior Week.

Respect! Dis-O was pretty fucking sick, and Senior Week looks like it’s going to be balls-to-the-wall awesome. Rocklands Barbeque on the lawn? FUCK YES! Ocean City? I HEARD THAT PLACE IS THE SHIT! Champagne brunch at Leo’s? WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN ALL MY LIFE?! I’m totally stoked. Without all these events you all planned, I’d be doing what I did during Senior Week last year: polishing off a Natty Caddy at my house every night. Don’t get me wrong, that was fun, but you’ve planned some truly kick-ass drinking field trips for the week, and for that I salute you. You’ve won me over, Chris, now let’s talk Georgetown Day.

As one of the strongest advocates for Seniors and the Senior experience, I cannot emphasize enough how disheartening it was for me when I learned that Georgetown Day wasn’t being planned.

Apparently you can emphasize it enough. I mean, you used the word “disheartening” for God’s sake.

Disheartening might not even be a strong enough word.

Okay, so since you showed some self-awareness there, I’ll let you off the hook, but for future reference, this is a list of appropriate reactions to finding out that GEORGETOWN DAY IS NOT BEING PLANNED AT ALL:

-Fainting
-Vomiting
-Brain aneurysm
-Facepalming yourself into a coma
-Spontaneous discharge of bowels
-Impotence
-Dying of a broken heart

WTF: A Breakdown of Tuesday’s Remarkably Stupid Email

Tuesday morning, Georgetown sent out an email. This would not be remarkable in and of itself, but it was about Georgetown Day… or whatever we’re going to call the bastardization of tradition that is going to happen Friday.  Which should only the best day of the year. In years past, the university has more-or-less looked the other way as the entire student body descends on Copley Lawn and gets drunk. Is it healthy? No. Is it dangerous? Not really, no. Being in public means people can’t get TOO drunk without someone noticing and getting concerned. It’s definitely better to have people drinking on the lawn than in some VCW basement. Also, it’s tradition. But whatever. Anyways, here’s one disaffected student’s take on that email.

Georgetown Day is a day to celebrate the unique character of Georgetown University. Check out the great events that your Georgetown Day committee has been hard at work to set up for you. Please also note the policies and procedures listed so that Georgetown Day ’12 can be the best ever!

This is a little self-congratulatory but hey, I’ll allow it. If they pull this off, it’ll be one of the more impressive feats in Georgetown history. Since, you know, there’s not going to be a beer garden. Or bouncy castles. Or sunshine and daisies.

We, as your all-student planning committee feel that Georgetown Day is a staple of Georgetown tradition.

Yes. Yes it is. So you didn’t fuck it up, right?

We are glad that students are taking initiative to celebrate our entire campus community in a safe, inclusive and totally awesome way.

Okay, okay. We get it. It’s going to be the Best Day Ever^TM. Now stop congratulating yourself on your awesome ability to… allow the rest of the student body to enjoy the last Friday of classes? What, exactly, is it that you do again? Because you sure as hell aren’t providing the alcohol that separates Georgetown Day from most other Friday afternoons.

Vive La Resistance!

Just off the bat, I’m not arrogant enough to believe that calling out the administration for neutering Georgetown Day will make a difference. No, I’m merely a second-semester senior with entirely too much time on my hands trying to occupy myself lest I spend too much time thinking about what my life is going to be like after graduation.

My hope is that someone who makes the kinds of decisions that end with Georgetown students bunched together like cattle on the front lawn on a day that is supposed to be one of the best of the year reads this, or is eventually told that hey— people don’t like what they’re doing. And if that happens I hope they can look past the fact that I *gasp* swear every once in a while for effect. I’ve loved my four years here, and when/if I ever have a source of disposable income I’ll gladly give some of it back to this wonderful place. But that doesn’t mean I’m going to sit idly by (especially when I have so much damn times on my hand. Senior Spring FTW) and let the university trample all over its students in some misguided attempt to “control” the festivities.

If you don’t have the time, inclination or sympathy required to read the other post(s) on this site, just remember this: Georgetown Day is supposed to be about the students, at least in some small part. The institution will survive all of us, but we’re the ones who pay obscene amounts of money to attend this fine university. We might not have a beer garden this year, and we might not have any bouncy castles. And to a certain extent, that’s okay. But the hubris of the Tuesday morning email Georgetown sent out was so staggering and it showed such an enormous disconnect from reality that I got pissed off enough to waste my time doing this.

I don’t pretend to understand all the motivations behind this decision, and I’m sure there are a few legitimate ones. But if the miserable wretches that are our neighbors have anything to do with this, that’s unforgivable. First, because, well, they’re miserable wretches. Second, because a draconian crackdown on drinking on the lawn is simply going to drive drinking off campus (as well as into dorms), which is precisely where the neighbors will have an issue with it. Back in my freshman year, I remember seniors being pissed that they were having their kegs confiscated on the lawn… although DPS was ultimately turning a blind enough eye that literally the only thing you couldn’t be drinking from was an open beer can. Solo cups were okay, and Natty cans covered with paper abounded. It wasn’t subtle, but it was fun and it was allowed. But the times, they are a-changin’.

Anyways, thanks for coming and feel free to let me know what you think in the comments.