Last week I wrote my first in a series of columns discussing traditions at N.C. State. I offered a working definition of what a tradition is and conjectured that traditions have been dying here over the past decade. I offered a number of examples of events that I consider traditions that were either eliminated or have been threatened by action of the city of Raleigh, NCSU, or its students. I admitted that most of these events were centered on alcohol consumption, but I also postulated that concerns about alcohol consumption were a secondary force in their cancellation. The primary cause of the decline in traditions is a wider social and philosophical change that is slowly taking over our University community at all levels. As I promised last week, I’ll discuss exactly what kind of change I’m talking about.
Let me begin with a hypothetical example: I’ve already mentioned the Krispy Kreme Challenge was described as the next great NCSU tradition. Let’s suppose two or three years down the road, the challenge has continued to grow exponentially, and there are thousands of people running the race. God forbid that, with so many people participating, some poor sop might get hit by a car crossing Hillsborough Street or suffer a massive coronary after downing his dozen doughnuts.
In this day and age, if such an accident were to happen at a high-profile event associated with the University, there could very well be a flurry of media coverage surrounding the incident more than likely blowing events out of proportion.
Take for example the “terrorist” in Chapel Hill’s Pit or the Duke lacrosse scandal. These were both events of local significance that deserved coverage and commentary in a statewide media context and that may have merited some mention in the national news. However, widespread sensationalized media coverage of these and similar events blow up in front of a nation of jaded voyeurs glued to their 24-hour news networks of choice, watching talking heads deface whatever school name happens to be tied to this week’s scandal.
Long gone are the days when a serious accident at an American university could be rationally considered to be just that: an accident. Now people aren’t willing to accept the universal law that “it happens.” Public opinion has become paramount to universities running more like corporations than academic institutions. In a climate where the Princeton Review and the U.S. News & World Report have more to do with your college’s success than anything actually indicative of a quality education, administrators can’t afford the media fallout or legal ramifications of a mishap turned sensationalized disaster, especially if their entire institution is seen to be somehow responsible for the dumb decisions of a few individuals.
Unfortunately, the real losers here are students and alumni. The very real threat of having the cash flow turned down or even off because of some otherwise unfortunate incident, and the perception that the University’s public image is paramount to the student experience have taxed our traditions. Administrators don’t want to be held responsible for a student causing an alcohol-related accident after a school endorsed event that involved consumption.
That’s why this generation’s fondest memories of college will be huddled in fear of the Nuisance Party Ordinance around lukewarm Bud Light, rather than having a keg out on the Brickyard, hanging out on Brent Road or even getting the opportunity to take advantage of the State Club’s cash bar in the new multi-million dollar Park Alumni Building.
So, to reiterate, I firmly believe that the decline in traditions is not entirely the fault of administrators or students, but is rather a reaction to the social changes of the past decade or so. Sure, in an ideal world NCSU would stick up for its students and act as an advocate for them against the old farts and useless public that constitute the status quo. But can you really blame the administration when they effectively ban alcohol at student events or when they try and kill tailgating? At least the current approach isn’t purely reactionary.
No worries though: it’s not all whining and moaning from old Ball here. Think of this column as The Empire Strikes Back of a three-part series. I know right now it seems like our traditions have no hope in the face of the march of social change, but I promise next week to offer some solutions. There are things that students and alumni can do and have been doing to preserve traditions and start new ones, and I’ll talk about those next week.
Tell Ball whose fault it really is at viewpoint@techncianonline.com.