As I watch my neighbors try to fix a glitch in the three-story beer bong they have just constructed, several onlookers begin shouting out their suggestions at how to mend the apparatus. Before long, a large group has congregated in front of the house to try and tweak the three-story wonder. Thirty minutes and several “test runs” later, my neighbors have their beer bong in working order and the party is starting. All of this, and it is only 3 in the afternoon.

When the officials from the Princeton Review were rating the top party schools in the country, they must have taken situations like this into consideration in ranking the University of Wisconsin third.

While the beer-bong scene caused me to stare in amazement (shortly before joining in), it is what causes UW school officials to express their disdain. Shortly after the Princeton Review rankings came out, Sue Crowley, director of Policy, Alternatives, Community and Education (PACE) released a statement of disapproval towards the UW’s party-school status.

The party-school title so often associated with UW is not exactly marking the accomplishments of PACE, whose goal is to stop people like my neighbors from taking beer bongs at 3 in the afternoon. In fact, it seems to be another obvious mark of failure for the group.

Last spring, the group was hit with two other signs their efforts were doing nothing to combat the drinking nature of the university. First, when the Madison Police Department released a study that showed after PACE successfully banned drink specials for one year, violence on campus had actually significantly increased. And later, when all bars participating in the ban were slapped with a (still pending) anti-trust lawsuit accusing them of price fixing.

Crowley has done her best to stop anything that remotely resembles fun, but the fact is, it is just not working. Of course no university wants to be known for producing a bunch of alcoholic burnouts, but other, perhaps more prestigious, rankings of UW prove just the opposite.

Aside from being ranked the No. 1 sports town by Sports Illustrated on Campus last year, UW was ranked by U.S. News & World Report among the top 10 public schools in the country. Also, UW tied Harvard for first place in educating the most chief executive officers of companies included in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index. UW also counts 142 alumni who volunteered for the Peace Corps as of the beginning of 2004, more than at any other U.S. college or university.

More important than just being book smart, UW students seem to have mastered the art of balance. Sure, my neighbors spent hours working and went through many prototypes before settling on the three-story, double-funnel beer bong, but they spend as much time, if not more, on their chemistry homework. After all, finding an open table on the third floor of College Library Monday night is harder than getting into the Kollege Klub without bribing the bouncers Saturday night.

UW students play hard, but we also work hard. In fact, one of the reasons many students say they live it up on the weekends is because of the tremendous effort they put forth during the week. It is the balance of the two that makes the students of UW so unique.

The fact that UW has achieved the party-school title on top of being one of the most prestigious universities in the country is something that should be celebrated, not frowned upon. Students should be applauded for the fact that they can play beer pong until 3 in the morning and still make it to their 8:50 a.m. lecture on time the next morning.

In the real world, these are the skills that separate UW alumni from the rest. The ability to work hard when necessary and know when to let loose once in a while are qualities that no other college in the country can match and are reason enough for Crowley to throw in the towel on the PACE project.

My neighbors are lushes on the weekends, but during the week they are studying hard to become chief executive officers and Peace Corps volunteers. And they can make a beer bong better than anyone at Harvard.

Joanna Salmen ([email protected]) is a junior majoring in journalism and Spanish.