Halloween: A time for tricks, treats and revealing costumes.
In Friday’s story “Ghost busted,” CollegeSafetyZone.com President Tom Kane said Halloween weekend brought the “perfect storm for partying.”
The mix of large parties, an excess of alcohol and students in costumes were all factors that led ASU Police to double its enforcement over the weekend.
For most college students, Halloween is an excuse to party, and as Halloween was coupled with Homecoming this year at ASU, there’s no doubt the party was raging.
But dressing up and hopping from party to party or bar to bar is what Halloween is for most college students, whether you go to ASU or any other school in the U.S., and we’re tired of getting labeled a “party school” or second-rate institution as a result.
This Halloween weekend, women’s holiday fashion once again reared its ugly (and half-naked) head. It seems as though the majority of college (and even high school) girls go for the token “Sexy (insert profession/woodland creature here).” Whether you were a nurse, a maid, a bunny or a cop, we can promise there were many others with the same outfit on.
As poor Lindsay Lohan learned in “Mean Girls,” Halloween doesn’t mean dressing up in a costume that’s anything but revealing. But slap on some lingerie and animal ears, and you’re good to go.
Congrats to those of you that went above and beyond and actually dressed up as something interesting or relevant. Bonus points if you were Balloon Boy.
Hoards of students running around on Saturday in costumes, possibly intoxicated, doesn’t seem like the best of scenarios, and while we hope everyone had a fun, safe night, we’re definitely interested to see the police reports that come out in the next few days.
And while it would be easy to point to ASU’s “party school” reputation to explain this weekend’s shenanigans, we’re willing to bet the scene was similar in college towns across the country.
Sure, we’ll probably have some more student arrests and there were likely more fights, or any other statistic you want to name, but really it comes down to the fact that in Tempe alone there are tens of thousands of students, more than any other school in the nation. More people mean more of everything, the good and the bad. The odds are stacked against us when it comes to the negative statistics about college-town partying.
The odds are also in our favor, though. With impressive research departments throughout the University, our academics are overtaking our at-times negative reputation, and scholars from around the country should be — and many are — recognizing that ASU makes significant contributions to academia.
Our research teams continue to win large grants, our professors and students produce work that has real-world impact and our professors, like Elinor Ostrom, are being recognized for their excellence.
Say what you will about ASU, critics. We’ll be right there with you condemning drunken antics and the Facebook albums that follow, but we know this University has a lot more going for it than hot blondes in slutty costumes.
