#1 Party School Reflection

#1 Party School is a radio segment review of the number one "party school" in the nation, Penn State. The whole point of the broadcast is to discuss the issues associated with college towns and drinking, and in this case, specifically Penn State. The investigation was conducted because The Princeton Review declared Penn State as the number one school for partying. The purpose of the investigation was to determine exactly what this ranking means. To do this, the researchers observe the drunk students at night and conduct brief interviews with them. The issue has an exigence because there is a need to find out how this ranking influences the student behavior. Officer Martin Haynes discusses his personal experiences with the students with one of the reporters.

The intended audience is the college communities around the nation. These are the people involved with the problems of college partying. Through the research, you can see this affects nearly all students attending the university because they are the ones partying. The residents of the community who live close to campus are negatively affected by being disturbed from loud noises and destruction of property on the weekend nights. The faculty is also confronted with the problems of trying to keep a safe environment at the university. Graham Spanier is quoted several times in the report when he was confronted with questions related to students partying. The report also discusses how students such as the pizza delivery man have never drank alcohol, but have to deal with all of the negative affects from the majority of the school population partying. The report really concludes that drinking is something that happens at colleges, and Penn State especially. It's inevitable, but the problem should try to be addressed. However, there isn't one specific thing that can lead to the end of drinking. Administrators conclude that even the death of Joe Dado will have no effect on the next years class. Interviews extended past just the drunken students to those that reflect on their entire experience at Penn State. One student sadly talks about his last football game he will watch as a student. He claims that he will come to the games for the rest of his life, and this is where the Penn State pride is really evident. The students are all close with each other and love everything about the University. And perhaps this is what The American Life infers can be traced to all the drinking, this friendly environment.

The researchers use mostly interviews to convey their information. They also discuss the cause and effect of the students drinking and the impact it has on the entire university. Although I found all the interviews entertaining, I am not sure how useful the research was. After listening to the report, I didn't notice anything that came across as unusual. In my opinion I think every single college in the nation is going to party on the weekends, Penn State simply comes across as a big party school because of the big population. So my only problem with the report is that is seems to have investigated a topic that is already widely evident. All in all it was an entertaining piece.