March 22, 2011 12:01 am
Embrace the Nest Mess
By Dave Chase, Former Managing Editor
The weekend before Spring Break saw the first test of the new Nest policies. I am told only a handful of students went. In fact, The Point News sent a photographer to cover the event and he captured an empty upper deck – a far cry from the 400 people who crowded into Daugherty-Palmer Commons (DPC) at the last nest.
I guess the new policy worked.
I understand the Nest is meant to be a substance-free event. And that’s great and there should be a substance-free alternative on campus. However, in the process of hosting a substance-free event, Programs Board discovered the immense popularity of a campus-wide dance party. In other words, an event, sponsored by Programs Board and paid for by our student fees, where a quarter of the campus consistently came.
Sounds like a win to me.
Yet, as soon as the event became popular, new rules came out to effectively kill the event. If the rules are purely in the name of maintaining the Nest as a substance-free event, fine. But then why hasn’t Programs Board developed a new non-substance-free event? I know I don’t care what the event is called.
Unfortunately, we all know the new policies come from the same mentality on alcohol consumption we have dealt with our entire lives. The mentality that says, “if we don’t talk about it and shame those who partake, maybe it will go away.”
The same mentality that drives high school and college students alike to drink in basements and under power lines and do stupid things like get in a car instead of calling for a ride. And, ironically, the same mentality that propagates the kind of binge drinking on this campus and campuses across the country that this same mentality hates.
Time for a new approach.
For the first time, we have a college President who wants to engage in a dialogue. As President Joseph Urgo said, “I share a number of concerns with presidents and chancellors who wish to reopen the debate on the drinking age.
I am concerned that we, as professionals responsible for the education of young adults, have created an atmosphere where students who choose to consume alcohol often do so in ways dangerous to their health.”
The new Nest policies only continue that atmosphere.
Instead, why not hold a campus-wide dance party and not ban intoxication? Use the event as an opportunity to engage in a dialogue. Not necessary at the event, though at this point we all listen to Pandora and watch Hulu and are use to 15-30 second interruptions in our entertainment for a commercials. Use the same approach, a drinking fact in between songs.
More importantly, use the event as a place where intoxicated college students can go safely have fun.
Drinking in college will not go away. Hiding, shunning and cracking down on it won’t do anything. Certainly with a substance-allowed dance party and a pub, SMCM will go so much further than any other college in having an honest conversation about the perils and, yes, pluses of drinking.
I think it’s unfair to blame the Nest issue on it being a non-alcoholic event. It was the behavior of the students there, and their belligerent and threatening non-compliance, in addition to too many people and too few staff, that caused it to be shut down. That’s a completely separate issue from discussing how to behave like adults and drink responsibly, which the college *is* addressing with the new pub on campus. It’s now up to the students to decide which forum they prefer (pub/alcoholic or Nest/non-alcoholic), and to demonstrate they can act like adults rather than drunken idiots.
I think it’s just a shame that the program lost its roots or its founding members or whatever it was in SAFE House that made the event about substance-free fun.
I know people of legal drinking age who don’t drink for whatever personal reason or another, and several of them are uncomfortable in alcohol settings. I agree that the change of scenery was unfortunate, but I think that it shows that unless people are willing to work towards making it better (e.g. more volunteers every weekend, do your part if you enjoy it!), it’ll just get out of hand, and bad things happen as a result. Bad things that straightedge people who do not want to be around substances shouldn’t have to suffer for.
I worked the Nest that got shut down and led to the new policies. The Nest, is and has ALWAYS been an alcohol-free event. Students have NEVER been allowed to bring bags, cups, etc. The rules are posted on a board outside of DPC EVERY month. And yet, every time, people are walking around with Solo cups, trying to bring in backpacks full of beer and scrabble into the event. And then they want to get all upset when STUDENT VOLUNTEERS remind them of the rules that are clearly posted. This is an honor’s college. You all know how to read. If you’re too drunk to read a sign, you should probably stay home. The Nest was shut down because there were 8 volunteers (including a student who goes to UMBC who happened to be nice enough to help so that you guys could even have a Nest to go to…) and over 400 students. When we attempted to do crowd control, the drunk people got out of hand. One volunteer was sexually harassed, and everyone (including FACULTY MEMBERS) were yelled at, pushed, and shoved. An email goes out every semester asking for committee members and volunteers and no one wants to help, so this is the result. If you want the Nest to be what it was, step up and help the committee. Programs Board is run by students FOR students. The events rely on the entire student body to run successfully, so don’t blame the committee, or programs board, or the nature of the event for your own behavior.
College students are expected to act like adults. So act like one. Drink responsibly – or don’t drink at all.
And what is this non-substance-free event? You want us to show up drunk and then run commercials about why we shouldn’t be drunk? How does that even make sense?
Run an article on events that actually matter.
- “Run an article on events that actually matter.”
How can you say that? This event attracted over 400 people at once and presumably over 600 people throughout he night. That’s between 1/5 and 3/10 of the student body. Before the policy change, this was definitely one of the most popular programs on campus. With so much student involvement, this is an issue that should be seriously considered and as such should deserves attention from the newspaper and not brushed off as something that doesn’t ‘matter.’
This issue about the Nest was already discussed in a previous issue of the Point News. I know that the Nest being shut down is a big deal – I was there…
My problem is the idea of a non-substance-free event. That is not going to help the drinking problem that was first brought by the Nest debacle. If you want a non-substance-free event, go to one of the student-run parties on the greens, or in lq or wc. Why would the school support an event that encourages drinking. Does anyone honestly think that would be any more successful than the Nest? After the show that was the last Nest in DPC, do you think an alcohol-allowed event would be any less crazy? The Nest was shut down for safety problems, I can only imagine that a similar event with substances allowed would be 100 times more ridiculous…
Colleen- that is exactly my point. The only response to the misuse of any substance is to push it further from the light of day and towards less safe alternatives. That’s the same policy our society has stuck with for decades and as you see binge drinking is still alive and well. Do I think a non-substance-free event will eliminate binge drinking? No. But do I think in combination with the campus pub and a more open attitude about drinking on campus we could move towards a more responsible drinking culture.
Beyond that, why should the school support an event like this? It was incredibly popular. Find a venue (the Arc) and staff (PS) and ask students to allocate the funds, I bet we get at least 400 yea votes.
Way to ignore the fact that this Nest was held the same night as MardiGreens…