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We Need to Have a Discussion About This #SaveCuse Partying Video

Syracuse students, harken to my voice. This is just...no.

By Sean Keeley

America,

We have a problem.

Obama.

...

....

....

BUT WAIT, I'm not done. We have another problem...

This problem isn't going away. Whether you look away or not.

This problem has gotten so out of hand it's not even clear where it started and how we let it get this far.

This problem is not going to stop until we draw a line in the sand and say, "No More!"

This problem affects the entire Syracuse community and by pretending that there's nothing we can do, we only make it worse for the next generation.

That problem is...

Sexual assault on campus.

The rise of crime against students.

Unpaid college athletes.

LGBTQ discrimination.

Gender inequalities.

Financial aid reform.

Not being allowed to drink nine Lime-a-Ritas at Castle Court whenever you want...

Okay, okay...OKAY...

1. The Music - Right off the Friday Night Lights soundtrack. I kept expecting Coach Taylor to show up and give us an inspiring speech about how "tonight at Castle Court, it's your time. Don't you forget that. CLEAR BOOZE, RED CUPS, CAN'T PUKE!"

2. "...It's about being together as a university and showing school spirit and enjoying ourselves all together, which is, like, the most important thing about being in college, is being together, being around people...who make you feel good, who make you want to have a good time. Taking away a place that allows us to do just that is only hurting the University."

I have nothing to add to that. It's perfect. It's f***ing poetry.

3. "It's been a kind of historic thing that every time there's a game or, you know, coming back to school, when you want to have an outdoor party, they clear out all the cars from Castle Court and they just throw a huge rager..."

Class of '00 here. Never went to one party at Castle Court. Never even heard of anyone going to Castle Court for anything, let alone a rager.  But, sure, "historic..."

4. If what everyone is saying in this video is true, if ISIS showed up at Castle Court, they'd be disbanded and doing beer bongs with Israel by 4 a.m.

5. "It was fun. It was safe. And you never saw anyone getting hurt. And we were respectful enough to clean up after ourselves."

Missed a spot...

6. "I love the parties I go to, I have a blast. And I still get my work done in both Newhouse and Whitman every week."

Chances that guy works the whole "I'm in BOTH Newhouse and Whitman" bit into every conversation? 87%.

7. "Castle Court is a place where it doesn't matter who you are, what you're doing, just everyone will come together."

Sounds like some socialist, liberal, hippie-dippie, utopian nightmare to me. THANKS OBAMA.

8. "We just have to pick up the pieces..."

What pieces? Were you harmed? Did Chancellor Kent touch you? Show me where. SHOW ME WHERE!!!

9. #SaveCuse - SaveCuse? SAVECUSE??? We wasted #SaveCuse on this???

10. I don't know anything about I'm Schmacked but I will stake a decent amount of money that their HQ is full of guys in their 40's wearing suits and taking meetings with Bud Light's media agency.

-------

Syracuse Students,

Look. I get it, you guys. You just want to go party when you're not studying. Cool. I get that. I did the same. Probably too much.

Here's the thing...this is nothing new. This kind of thing has been happening long before you matriculated and it will happen long after you become an account manager for a PR agency.

When I was there, we had a little thing called Livingstock. It was basically MayFest before MayFest. My junior year, things got a little nutty, there were bonfires in the streets, cops showed up in riot gear and SU freaked the F out. They came down hard with new rules and punishments as well as promises to curtail partying and drinking.

It didn't work. Yes, my senior year there were a few weeks of strong talk and party shutdowns, but by November, everything was basically back to normal. House parties a-plenty. Frats and sororities doing what they do. Marshall Street was a madhouse on weekends. Literally nothing changed.

Same as here.

So, they don't want you to party at Castle Court. Boo-hoo. Guess what, there are hundreds of others places you can go to pre-game, post-game or just game-game. Things move pretty fast in the world of campus drinking hotspots. The idea of going to Castle Court to drink wasn't even a consideration when I was there. I never even heard of the place. Now, you're lamenting its death like it was The Holy Temple.

Quick story to prove my point. Senior year, the best place to go on Fridays for Happy Hour was the bar in the Sheraton. At 5:00, that place suddenly swelled as everyone jammed in there for cheap pitchers before heading out to more respectable drinking holes. I went back to Syracuse the following year for a football game and walked into that bar at 5pm on a Friday to kick off my weekend.

It was dead.

It was what you'd expect to find in a hotel bar...random people in suits and khakis drinking. The Friday Happy Hour spot had already changed. It was someplace else that I couldn't find because that's what happens. Someplace works until someone comes along and decides someplace else is better.

Now, if your plight is over issues with campus security or sexual assault prevention & help, then, yes, you have my bow and you have my axe. But in terms of your right to paaaaaarty, we've got sooooooooo many other things you could be making earnest, overwrought YouTube videos to support. Dump some icewater on your heads and move forward.

You found a balance between partying and studying? Grape job.

You want a place to let off some steam at the end of the week? Who doesn't.

You think the Chancellor made a mistake? Well...let this be your first lesson on how this works. He don't care. The school's rep is his rep and it's YOUR FAULT that SU is rated the No. 1 Party School to begin with. If you all hadn't opened your big mouths and bragged so loudly, you wouldn't have gotten the rating and you wouldn't be in this mess.

Rule No. 1 about having a good time. Never tell people that yours is the best party because that invariably leads to that party's downfall.

Trust me, you will drink this year. You will drink plenty. You will jump up and down in large groups, which, judging by that video, is all you like doing. You will do everything you already enjoy doing and you will one day look back on this whole thing and say to yourself, "God, remember when we got all worked up about the school cracking down on Castle Court? That was so silly."

Godspeed, drink responsibly and, if at all possible, sample some local craft brews every once in a while. Wouldn't kill you.

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