Young and old(er) see eye to eye

By Lee Coppola
Dean of the Russell J. Jandoli School of
Journalism and Mass CommunicationMany things have changed since my days at St. Bonaventure from 1960 to 1964.

There are more buildings, many more.

Women live on campus and outnumber the males in the classrooms. Far more lay professors and far fewer friars do the teaching.

But one thing has remained constant - Bonaventure's reputation as a party school. In fact, a prospective student told me recently he was leaning against attending Bona's because he heard it was a party school. I told him all universities and colleges were party schools ... if you want them to be.

Let me be honest. I imbibed in alcohol during my stint as an undergraduate in the then journalism department. But, let me add a caveat - the legal drinking age then was 18. And I can't remember drinking anything but beer while at Bona's. And I never drank so much I passed out or had to seek medical attention. Some did, to be sure, but the cases of "binge" drinking, a term unknown to us then, were far and few between.

Nowadays, I understand, beer doesn't suffice. When visiting my daughter during her days at Bona's during the eighties, her friends, probably because I was paying, urged me to do shots of "Jack" or tequila. Why wasn't a glass of beer enough, I wondered . and then coughed up the dough for a line of shots.

In my days, the hangouts were mostly in Olean, places long gone called The Olean House, the Brown Bear, Stravino's and the Ashes, which emulated its name by burning to the ground several years after I graduated. The only drinking establishment in Allegany was, you guessed it, The Burton, where I spent many an afternoon watching sporting events.

Our drinking centered mostly on watching sports or playing cards. I don't recall going out just to party, although others I knew did. But then again, things were much different then. Read much stricter. Friars lived on each dorm floor and kept watch if you came home beyond curfew (yes, I said curfew) or arrived in somewhat of an inebriated state.

In fact, a classmate was suspended for a semester when a friar caught him with a can of beer in his room - an unopened can.

So, some things change, and some things stay the same. And yes, Bonaventure probably was, and probably remains, a "party" school, depending on your definition of party. Personally, I prefer to call it socializing, meeting friends and enjoying activities with them rather than getting together for the sole purpose of drinking alcohol.



By Steve Swieciki
Senior History Major

It's Friday. What are your plans for tonight? Are you staying in and doing work; are you going over to your friend's room for a movie; or are you hitting up a house party and maybe a bar or two?

It's an undeniable fact at Bonaventure the consumption of alcohol plays a role in the social scene. But how different are we from any other college, and to what extent does it affect the individual student?

Let me first dispel the persistent claim the only thing happening on a Bonaventure weekend is drinking. A casual glance at the daily Notice Board clearly demonstrates just how foolish a statement that is.

The people who say this clearly aren't looking hard enough. If you need to have your college experience spoon-fed to you because you lack the initiative to take advantage of opportunities yourself, you might as well drop out and readmit yourself to kindergarten where a teacher can hold your hand.

You have to wonder just how different the drinking culture here is from other schools. While my experience visiting other schools is limited, my opinion (based on people visiting from elsewhere as well as my group of friends back home who are in their respective colleges) is that the perception doesn't quite match the reality. Perhaps we Bonnies can put a few more away than the average 'Joe College,' but overall I can honestly say we're not all that different from students elsewhere.

That said, a large number of students here, if not the majority, routinely decide on a weekly basis to imbibe, either in their rooms, at parties or at bars. Many of these students are underage yet apparently have no problem getting access to alcohol - at least that's the conclusion you can't help but draw when you see freshmen in Foster's.

Does the drinking culture therefore define the Bonaventure experience? In the four years I've been here, I've spent more weekends than I can count partying with my friends, and I've wasted more money on cheap beer than I care to tell my parents. Yet in a seeming contradiction, the most cherished memories I have rarely involve alcohol. And in the stories that it does factor into, it usually plays a role in the setting only.

For example, the last night of my junior year, my friends and I went to our favorite bar. It was a warm, May night, and we sat gathered around a table laughing, telling stories and just having an overall good time reminiscing. Was I drinking? Yeah, I had a couple of gin and tonics. But how large a role did it play in my night? Aside from the underlying reason being our desire for one last drink together before four long months apart, nothing.

It's the people, not the swill, that make the experience. More often than not, it won't be that legendary two-minute keg stand you pulled off that you think of when someone asks you your favorite Bona's memory. Those are fun, and I don't know anyone who doesn't like a room full of people chanting their name, but that hasn't been what's defined my Bonaventure experience. I need look no further than my family here for that.

So is the drinking culture good or bad? The truth is that it's neither. It ultimately comes down to each individual and the choices he or she makes. Though it can if one so chooses, alcohol does not automatically play a role in any student's innate ability to form bonds of friendship with their fellow Bonnies.

The culture doesn't define people - people define the culture. Take my word for it. I'm a senior.