Mifflin is forever.
I have always thought due to the size of University of Wisconsin’s campus along with an overwhelming number of students who wish to live the “party lifestyle,” the police here had a tendency to ensure safety and civility rather than enforce drinking laws.
Apparently, though, that doesn’t apply to the Mifflin Street Block Party.
But actually … it might.
I’m so confused.
Madison police chief pledges to continue efforts to end Mifflin
Madison Police Department Chief Mike Koval Monday said in a blog post he hopes the event could be continually downsized, resulting in its eventual elimination.
Koval said the event has “all the earmarks of a very real public safety concern,” as well as citing the downsizing of the Revelry Music and Arts Festival as a possible cause of a larger Mifflin this year.
Revelry Music and Arts Festival to relocate, downsize significantly
But at a press conference Tuesday, Koval put the blame for many of the worst Mifflin incidents on visitors to campus, which every UW student already knows.
In what seems like a serious change in tone from earlier statements, he then joked about police taking “lots of selfies” with “better poses than students.”
OK … so as Mifflin comes to an end, we are going to take pictures with the police and acknowledge the negatives of the event are often not the fault of UW students.
Honestly, it doesn’t matter. Because to put it simply, for better or worse, if students at this school want to have the Mifflin Street Block Party, they are going to have the Mifflin Street Block Party.
According to Koval, Mifflin has “outlived its useful life and historical significance.”
I disagree. In fact, I would argue the historical significance is celebrated by the participants every year the event is held, even if they don’t know it.
I understand there have been issues with the event, everyone does. But Koval is right when he says that much of the trouble is likely caused by visitors who have no thought for those of us who have to wake up the next day and go back to UW life.
The event should be, and I believe it already is, more than visitors wreaking havoc on this city.
As many know, the event was started as a protest of the Vietnam War, which was one of the most defining eras for student culture at UW. The battle between many students and the police went on for the entirety of the war, but at the end of it all, Mifflin still existed.
The Mifflin Street Block Party is dead, and Revelry is taking its place
Yes, now it serves as an end of the semester blowout for stressed UW students and visitors alike. But I think Mifflin means something more, even if other students don’t see it. Mifflin is, at its most basic level, an exercise of free will. It is a protest.
We are told what to do so much — sometimes, just sometimes, we as young people need to throw the party. No matter the consequences or threats, UW’s student community has found a way to make this event happen.
That may not be a good thing for MPD, but hell, I’m proud to be a member of a community this stubborn.
So sure, MPD, try to end Mifflin.
But if the “outlived historical significance” of the event tells you anything, it should probably be that you can’t end it. It’s a part of our culture, of who we are as ever rebellious Badgers.
It will keep going, even if we have to move the party to Dayton Street, College Court or State Street. The location of the event is not nearly as important as our ability as students to hold it.
Yeah, the event is stupid. It’s a drunken block party filled with college students, so of course it’s stupid. But it’s OUR stupid event and it always will be.
Mifflin will never die. Long live Mifflin.
Connor Touhey ([email protected]) is a junior majoring in journalism, political science and history.
