WinterFest: University’s hypocrisy in school party
WinterFest happened last week, and we all know what that means.
The University Program Board had activities coming out its ass; there was a fun, new UVM beanie going around and everyone gets hyped over that feature band that no one has really heard of anyway (but we all pretend to because we’re a university of pretentious hipsters).
WinterFest – along with its fall and spring counterparts – can be an exciting time, but from a university standpoint, it’s kind of a stupid, hypocritical idea.
The concept behind it is nice: let’s make a festival for each season that lets students have fun and feel good about their school. Okay, that sounds pretty good. But the execution is questionable. Take last year’s SpringFest for example.
SpringFest 2015 was a hell of a time. As a sophomore, I have nothing to compare it to, so maybe that was the norm, but it seemed pretty over the top to me. I mean besides the large, festival-style concert going on the green behind the library, there was an actual ferris wheel hanging out between the dorms. You can’t make this stuff up.
Sure, everyone was excited, but there was also a lot of behavior running rampant that I know the administration would frown upon. As we all know (from the deeply resented removal of our reading days), the school is trying really hard to stop the Naked Bike Ride. One of the main reasons for this is that alcohol and drug violations skyrocket on that night. But you know what else makes people drink and do drugs a lot? Concerts. Especially outdoor, festival-style concerts.
I am honestly not sure I encountered a sober person that day. There was the expected suspicious clouds of smoke rising over the concert crowd and water bottles filled with carbonated, golden drinks that are “definitely ginger ale,” but I even saw a couple kids doing shrooms between Aiken and Marsh Life. I can’t say I’ve ever seen anything like that on an average day.
Also, does anyone remember the email from the dean last semester? For those of us in the College of Arts and Sciences, it was a pretty memorable essay on marijuana usage on campus and how extensively it’s frowned upon. We can giggle, but it all seems to paint a pret- ty clear picture of an anti-drug philosophy.
I wish the University would keep its story straight. They send us long-winded emails about not going to class high, and they want to get rid of NBR to lower alcohol and drug violations, but directly facilitate drug usage with Spring/Winter/FallFest.
Make up your mind, admin- istration. Personally, I don’t care that much about the fests as long as I can avoid the com- motion, but it would be really handy for you to be consistent.
