As the outrage about the cancellation of the Mifflin Street Block Party escalates, there may be some value in considering where Mifflin began and where it is now.

Everyone knows that the event began as a late 1960s protest of the Vietnam War. Students at the time were so passionate about the anti-war sentiments that they made barricades to defend themselves from the police.

Now, in 2013, police are once again trying to prevent the event from happening, and students are still trying to resist. Considering the evolution, or rather de-evolution, of the block party, the question arises: What exactly are we protesting now?

Basically, University of Wisconsin students are just trying to hold on to “the right to party.” The problem with this is: The block party started out as a protest against violence, and now it has become an event that results in an environment of violence. It seems that if we really wanted to honor the tradition of the block party, we would let it go the minute it started doing more harm than good.

The fact that students at UW have so many opportunities to party calls into question the need to hang onto this one party on this one day. Most students seem to be upset about the fact that a tradition is being taken away from them. However, the purpose of the party has changed considerably since the first block party in 1969. It has become just a chance to blow off steam before finals and have a good time, and the revolutionary sentiment behind it has fallen by the wayside.

So, tradition has already been taken out of the event. Other students are upset because the powers that be are trying to control our “right to party.” The problem with this is that our right to party is not being eliminated completely, just at a specific location on a single day.

It seems that the reason students are upset about this is that they like to protest just as much now as they did during the Vietnam War. They want to show that they cannot be controlled any more than they could in 1969. It isn’t just a party that is being taken away, but a feeling of student solidarity and resistance. These sentiments still exist in students today, but have been covered up by the “right to party” sentiment.

I think before we get too upset about this cancellation, we should take a look at what Mifflin has become, why it has become that, more importantly, if it’s still worth fighting for.

Julia Wagner ([email protected]) is a senior majoring in English literature.