Something is Rank

I've been meaning to update you on the reaction from The Old Main Propaganda Shop on Penn State plummeting from 7^th place last year to 35^th place this year in the Washington Monthly National University Ranking.

First, let's go back to 2007 when Penn State finished fifth in the ranking due to the erroneously high Pell Grant percentage used by the magazine for Penn State. Here's the reaction.

"It's something that Penn Staters should be proud of," Penn State [Bullshit Artist] Geoff Rushton said. "It uses scientific criteria that measures how universities impact the nation, and Penn State has done very well. "

Geoff had to know that the Pell Grant percentage was off by just shy of a factor of two , yet he was counseling pride on the part of Penn Staters. I'll cut him some slack since empty pride is the Penn State way and even empty pride can be used to separate gullible alumni from their money.

Now, let's compare this to the reaction this year.

"I have to say that rankings as a whole are something that we don't take too seriously," [Penn State Bullshit Artist Annemarie] Mountz said. "We don't look for ways to rise in the rankings."

Not too seriously, Annemarie? Why does Penn State maintain a Web site Where We Stand:Current Rankings?  The site,which  was updated last month,  still has the 2009 Washington Monthly ranking and not the 2010 ranking. Why is that? You and Graham  have to know that the 2009 ranking, like all of that magazine rankings before this year, is based on a too high Pell Grant percentage for  Penn State. It's a lie to leave it up.

By the way, a couple of  years ago I pointed out that Penn State slams the Princeton Review rankings as not being scientific whenever its party school ranking draws unwelcome attention to the University (Rushton's quote above is a not too subtle dig at Princeton Review), yet Penn State listed other Princeton Review rankings on the site which made the University look good. Shortly thereafter, The Old Main Propaganda Shop scrubbed the Princeton Review rankings from the site. Guess what?  Princeton Review is listed again this year. I guess they figured no one was paying attention anymore....don't even begin to think about erasing anything this time, Annemarie, I've notarized the site.

The fascinating claim by Annemarie is, "We don't look for ways to rise in the rankings."  No, of course not, Annemarie.

Dickinson School of Law (DSL) is being offered a $60-plus million new home on the Penn State campus in State College if the university's board of governors agrees to forsake Carlisle.
Board approval is the only thing that stands in the way of the proposed relocation by fall 2008.
An agreement made when the law school and the state-affiliated university were merged in 1997 says the 169-year-old school will remain in the Carlisle in perpetuity unless the governors vote to go to another site.
In a 28-page memo marked "Confidential For DSL Board Members Only" in preparation for a Nov. 21-22 board meeting, law school Dean Phil McConnaughay tells the board that the university "is prepared to assume the entire cost of a new facility without any repayment" if the law school "completes the design of a new facility within the next 12 months."
The crux of the dean's argument favoring an exodus from the borough is strongly rooted in U.S. News and World Report magazine's third-tier ranking of the school and "a languishing reputation" that caused "DSL grads" in one firm to inform McConnaughay about "their law firm's decision not to hire any longer from our law school because of our low rank."

Penn State was willing to spend $60 million to boost DSL's US News and World Report ranking and ultimately it spent an unknown amount in a legal fees and a pr campaign to abrogate the original merger agreement and to win the right to build a second campus at University Park at the cost of having to renovate the Carlisle facility. That construction cost $100 million.

What's a little fiddling with the way it reports its Pell Grant percentage to boost its Washington Monthly ranking in comparison to that?

Credit Where Credit is Due

This looks like a good idea.

"As our community moves forward to address the challenges of dangerous drinking, we acknowledge that many students' use of alcohol may align less with the one-time alcohol abuse incident, and more with the reality that they may be suffering from an addictive abuse of alcohol," said Damon Sims, vice president for student affairs at Penn State.

"This fall, the Division of Student Affairs at Penn State will provide space for an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting.

It's a small move, but even if it doesn't solve the alcohol abuse problem here, if it  helps only a handful of students, it will be worth it. Kudos to Sims.

Technorati Tags: Penn State, Party School, Damon Sims, Alcoholics Anonymous

Someone Here at Penn State....

....should steal borrow this idea and adapt it to Penn State. I give you the University of Binge Drinking Web site.

Welcome to the University of Binge Drinking! Here you will become oriented in the dangerous drinking that occurs on our property. You will learn about our policies that take our state laws and modify them so that they allow us to look the other way, the insane amounts of money we make from those binge drinkers, and finally the skyrocketing crime that results from our recklessness, but it is important to remember that's all the 19 and 20 year olds fault.

Go take a look at the site...you won't be sorry that you did.

Technorati Tags: Penn State, University of Iowa, Party School, Alcohol Abuse

If a Drunk Penn State Student Falls in an Alley and "This American Life" Isn't There to See It, Does Penn State Still Have an Alcohol Abuse Problem?

I am a little late on this, but earlier this month the Princeton Review Party School Ranking came out. Penn State dropped from  first place last year to third place this year. That mean's that the national spotlight will now shift away from Penn State to the University of Georgia, this year's top school.  We'll have to wait and see if  Old Main's will to deal with the alcohol abuse problem around here , which was dialed up last year after the first place showing in the Party School Ranking, the alcohol related death of freshman Joe Dado, and a revealing portrayal of Penn State's party culture on This American Life,  diminishes now that the public relation problem has been solved to some degree.

It's worth noting the Penn Staters are taking the drop in the ranking in stride.  Here's Jake Wiest a junior architectural engineering major in a letter to the Collegian.

The review relies on a survey that states an average of 325 students per school filled it out. First, we must assume everyone filling this out is doing so in an honest manner, not just to talk up the school's party scene. Assuming this, than a poll of less than 0.8 percent of the student population, a horribly inadequate number, determined our ranking.
I'm not saying that we would've stayed at No. 1 had more people filled out the survey -- perhaps quite the opposite. I'm saying who cares. Both the university and student population should put little stock into this overly hyped and insufficient survey.

Jake echos Penn State Bullshit Artist Geoff Rushton reaction,

"How do you scientifically gauge something like this?" Rushton said. "I don't think you do."

[...]

For Rushton, the rankings not only hold no real legitimacy -- they also have zero purpose.

The ranking is not representative of all students, he said, as many students drink responsibly.

"It's kind of insulting to our students, who are very bright, hard-working and dedicated to their studies," he said.

But Jake takes a very different lesson away from this observation about the lack of scientific legitimacy of the ranking,

I say the students should just keep doing your thing; everyone knows we party harder than the University of Georgia and Ohio University anyway.

I've gotta say, I think Jake's got a better grip on the reality here than Geoff does.

I mean it was a couple of those very bright, hard-working and dedicated recent Penn State graduates  that used their talents to come up with this.

During their time here, some Penn State graduates engineered a way to drink liquor without actually tasting anything -- and they say it may become the next social staple for college students across the nation.

Their product is the SLIZ Cup -- a "drinking vessel designed to eliminate the cringe between taking a shot and reaching for the chaser," said Anthony Vella, one of the product's creators.

It's a cup on top, with a straw for the handle.

To get the shot and chaser experience, co-creator Maurio Foire, Class of 2010, said users pour the alcohol into the SLIZ cup, add a non-alcoholic beverage and then drink quickly through the straw before letting the drink mix.

[...]

Inventing, marketing and selling SLIZ has been quite the experience, Vella said. The group got the chance to learn hands-on about entreprenuership, meet some interesting people along the way and "probably had too much fun conducting the necessary 'market research' which came with a lot of vodka," he said.

Hey, I know you're curious about the SLIZ Cup, so  here's their Web site.

Anyway, I'll keep an eye on Graham and Old Main this year to see if they slack off in their efforts to deal with Penn State's alcohol abuse problem.

Technorati Tags: Penn State, Princeton Review Party School ranking, Spanier

Drunk Students and Rich Drunk Alumni: Good. Drunk Students: Bad.

Is it that time of year already, when Princeton Review releases its party school rankings and The Old Main Propaganda Shop  goes full metal hypocrite  while trying to downplay Penn State's high ranking? Why yes....yes by golly, it is.

Before we take a look at how The Propaganda Shop tied itself in ethical knots this year, let's review last years performance when Penn State came in third on the list.  Penn State Bullshit Artist Geoff Rushton  told the Collegain that

...the rankings are unscientific and frivolous because they are done through an online
survey.

Students who are looking to attend Penn State should think about more serious aspects of the university, rather than a "silly marketing ploy, which is what the Princeton Review party rankings are," Rushton
said.

But as Geoff was uttering those words, Old Main was pimping on its Web site two Princeton Review rankings of Penn State that it liked. After Geoff read my blog post on this, those rankings were purged from the Web site.

Geoff showed world class hypocrisy last year. Could The Propaganda Shop top itself this year? With Penn State topping the party school list for the first time this year, The  Old Main Propaganda would be under pressure to outdo itself too. And they didn't disappoint.

This year it was Penn State Bullshit Artist Annemarie Mountz's turn.

[She] said the survey results are not representative. "There are about 10 sites I found on Facebook urging students to vote and make Penn State the No. 1 party school, which shows that these rankings are nothing more than a popularity contest. It's become a badge of honor among students to get their school as No. 1 in these categories. The results are not connected to reality."

According to Mounz using the internet to rustle  up votes for a party ranking is bad and the resulting rankings are meaningless.

Let's go to the film....

It was the fall of 2005 and Sportsillustrated.com was running a tournament to rank football  tailgating parties and The Old Main Propaganda Shop turned to its Propaganda Portal, i.e. they used the internet, to encourage the Nittany Nation to vote for Dear Old State.

Nittany Lion football fans know all the great traditions of tailgating at Beaver Stadium for Penn State football games. Now is their chance to make sure that tailgating scene is recognized as the best in the nation. SportsIllustrated.com and self-described "commissioner of tailgating" Joe Cahn have seeded Penn State among the eight best tailgates in college football, giving fans the chance to vote in weekly head-to-head match-ups online to determine what stadium has the best tailgate. In a first-round match-up with the University of Texas, Penn State trailed by more than 3,000 votes Wednesday morning -- so it's up to Nittany Lion fans and tailgaters to make up that difference.
To cast your vote for Penn State, go to http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/magazine/specials/tailgate/2005/footballgrid/ and scroll down to the pairings for "College Football Venues."

Each week that fall as Penn State advanced from round to round, The Propaganda Shop turned to the Propaganda Portal to urge on the faithful to vote.

And it worked. Penn State was ranked the number one party tailgating venue in the nation by Sportsillustrated.com and the folks in The Propaganda Shop rejoiced at this long overdue acknowledgment.

Penn State fans have known it for decades and now the nation knows again that Beaver Stadium and Happy Valley is the premier tailgating venue of any college or professional football team in the nation.

So let's review once more. Old Main successfully uses the internet to get Penn State ranked the number one tailgate party school:good. Students sucessfully use the internet to get Penn State ranked the number one party school:bad.

Technorati Tags: Penn State, Party School, hypocrisy, Princeton Review

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Scrubbed

Well, that was quick.

In an earlier post, I noted that Penn State selectively cites Princeton Review rankings. When it comes to the party ranking the Old Main propaganda shop criticizes the Princeton Review rankings as "unscientific and frivolous because they are done through an online survey," and calls them a "silly marketing ploy", while promoting two Princeton Review rankings that it likes on its Web site.

This evening I checked the PSU ranking list and found that the propaganda shop has scrubbed the Princeton Review rankings. Once again Google Cache comes through. Here is the page from earlier this morning.

The Unclean - Upload a Document to Scribd

Read this document on Scribd: The Unclean

I know that this blog is a daily read for the folks in the propaganda shop. I guess that after I accidentally deleted the earlier post they figured they could clean up their tracks and no one would be the wiser. What a bunch of integrity impaired twits.

Well, This Was Predictable

[Ed. I accidentally deleted this post, but I had a back up copy. It was originally posted at 10:07 am this morning]

It's that time of year again. Princeton Review is out with its annual rankings of colleges and universities and Penn State is once more ranked high as a party school. This year it made the list at number three. That can mean only one thing: a Penn State flack has to explain why the these rankings are flawed. I give you ...

Geoff Rushton, a university spokesman, said the rankings are unscientific and frivolous because they are done through an online survey.

"Most students considering a school like Penn State, which is tremendous academically, give more consideration to practical things than a ranking in the Princeton Review," he said.

[...]

Students who are looking to attend Penn State should think about more serious aspects of the university, rather than a "silly marketing ploy, which is what the Princeton Review party rankings are," Rushton said.

"We want students to enjoy the college experience -- it's a fun place with a lot for the students, but the ranking is a morphing trick to sell Princeton Review," he said.

You've got to respect Geoff's judgment about the Princeton Review being a "silly marketing ploy", because the folks in Old Main have a great deal of familiarity with silly marketing ploys.

Geoff thinks the that Princeton Review rankings are " unscientific and frivolous because they are done through an online survey." I guess Geoff and the others in the Old Main propaganda shop wouldn't touch a Princeton Review ranking with a ten foot pole.

What?.... No?...You don't say!



Well, it seems that I'm wrong. Penn State pimps [Ed. The page has been scrubbed. Checkout this post for details.] its high placing in various rankings and two showings in the Princeton Review makes the list. It looks like "unscientific and frivolous" means the results don't fit with with Graham's vision of how to sell the school.

Speaking of selling the school, Geoff has to walk a fine line while condemning the party ranking, because Penn State tacitly relies on its party image to maintain enrollment. However, too explicit a party image will make it hard to recruit faculty and graduate students. Here is his solution to the dilemma he faces: "We want students to enjoy the college experience -- it's a fun place with a lot for the students, but the ranking is a morphing trick to sell Princeton Review." So Geoff tells us that Penn State is kinda a party school-so kids keep on coming and bring your beer-pong tables-, but Princeton Review exaggerates it-don't worry potential faculty and grad students very few kids show up to class drunk.

The Collegian also trots out students to tell everyone that sure we like to have a good time, but Penn State is academically elite. That's funny. I know many faculty that will tell you-maybe not on the record-that Penn State students are, for the most part, mediocre.

The Lion is Out. The Weasel is In.

Today, in a hastily called news conference, Penn State announced that after serving as the University's mascot for generations that the Nittany Lion was going the way of Coaly the mule. According to Penn State spokesman Bill Mahon, the lion is being retired in favor of a mascot which better reflected what Penn State has become under the leadership of Graham Spanier. Shown to the left is the new mascot the Nittany Weasel.


Okay, I made that all up, but there were two stories today which highlight the weaselly ways of Old Main.

Story one requires some back ground. Penn State played Ohio State at home this past Saturday in a game which started at 8pm. This gave Penn State students plenty of time before the game to do what they do best: get drunk and act like jerks. Well, let's just say that they didn't waste the opportunity. A vice president of a Penn State frat posted a video to YouTube of a group of his fratboys throwing beer at some Ohio State fans. The video has been taken down[Update: the Collegian has a copy of the video on their site.], but here is how the Collegian describes the video.

The video shows a crowd of people, most clad in white Penn State T-shirts, shouting obscenities and throwing beer cans at two passing Ohio State fans.

One man chased the second of the Buckeyes fans and threw an open beverage at him in close range fueled with encouragement from the crowd.

Got that. The video shows Penn State students throwing beer and shouting obscenities at the Ohio State fans. That same crowd of Penn State students encourages an individual who throws beer at close range. Note also that nowhere does it say, nor would you hear on the video-I did get to see it before it was taken down- that anyone in the crowd of, let me remind you, Penn State students yelled, "HEY! STOP YOU IDIOTS!". This is essentially a Penn State problem and Penn State has taken some heat for it both from Penn State supporters and others. What is Old Main's public reaction? I give you the Penn State Propaganda Portal.

University Park, Pa – An investigation into a homemade video posted to YouTube that depicted Penn State fans hurling objects at two Ohio State fans prior to a football matchup on Oct. 27 has yielded information on some of the participants, including the fact that the main actor shown in the video is not a Penn State student.

The off-campus incident, captured on video behind the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity house located in the Borough of State College, is being widely condemned by University officials and fans from both schools. Local police have been investigating and have discovered that the person most prominently displayed in the video is a student at the University of Pittsburgh who was visiting for the weekend.

That's right, Old Main's public reaction is that it's not our fault. It's the fault of the Pitt student egged on by the Penn State students and might I add following the Penn State student's example. A most weaselly response, no?

The second story, in the way of the weasel, concerns how Penn State is handling donations made to colleges or student groups.

Beginning this year, donations to colleges and student groups exceeding $5,000 will take a pit stop at the Office of University Development for 90 days while Penn State pockets the interest, a university official said.

Okay, you say, what's so weaselly about that? I am sure other school do the same thing.

Other state-related schools in Pennsylvania handle matters differently.

"Unless we are directed by the donor to put it in an interest-bearing account, we donate the whole amount to the specific fund immediately," said Kris Domingo, assistant director of advancement services at Temple University.

At Lincoln University, Janice Lombardo, manager of gift processing and records, said she has 24 hours to deposit donations in the accounts for which they were intended.

No policies similar to Penn State's exist at the University of Pittsburgh, either.

"We don't keep any piece of it to support our fundraising," said Karen Whitehead, director of advancement operations at Pittsburgh. "It all goes to the allocation that the donor asked for. The university pays our budget, not the donors."

Fine, so it's a novel approach, but at least it was fully debated within the academic community before it was implemented, you retort.

"It's not something, to be perfectly frank, that we wanted to publicize," said Peter Weiler, vice president for university development.


[...]

Though the Penn State Board of Trustees approved the initial campaign, Weiler added that he didn't think they "got into details" like this policy.

Penn State President Graham Spanier and Jean Songer, chief financial officer, approved this policy, he said.

Stanley Degler, Class of 1951, who regularly donates scholarship money to the College of Communications, said he wasn't aware of the policy.

"It's news to me," he said. "I'm not sure what I think about it. It doesn't sound like a good idea. Once Penn State gets my check, they've got the money in any event. It ought to go immediately where the donor intended it to go."

Another donor, Marvin Krasnansky, Class of 1952, said the "gift holding" initiative caught him off guard.

"I wasn't aware of this. I have mixed feelings," he said. "I understand the need for it, but, as a contributor, I would feel more comfortable if the organization got the money in a more timely basis."

That's right Spanier took it upon himself to skim the interest on donations which he's parked in an account for three months and he wasn't going to tell anyone including the people making the donations

This is the weaselly way that Penn State has operated under Spanier and why the mascot will now, and for ever after, be the Nittany Weasel.

Technorati Tags: Penn State, Spanier, Pike, skimming donations, Nittany Weasel,
.

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It's Never Penn State's Fault

That Bill Mahon is a crafty guy. Today the CDT has publish a letter that Mahon has written ostensively to congratulate the police for their work on DUI arrests. Now as you all should know Bill is Graham's mouthpiece, but he is not identified as such by the CDT. That is likely the CDT's fault not Mahon's fault. This wouldn't be too much of a problem if it weren't that Mahon is also Penn State's point man on alcohol abuse. His job is not so much to curb the abuse of alcohol by Penn State students, but rather to make sure that Penn State doesn't have to take the blame for its drinking problem. You can see my previous discussions of his work here, here,here, here, and here.



Back to the letter. Mahon is up to his old tricks. Take a look at this passage.

With a large increase in alcohol sales in Centre County in recent years, expansion of the number of alcohol businesses in the immediate State College area and heavy promotion of drinking in the media coupled with national alcohol-abuse trends, this is not a problem that will be easily solved.

Note that there is no mention of Penn State's contribution to the problem and that he cuts himself and the University some slack by claiming that,"this is not a problem that will be easily solved." What a yutz.


Technorati Tags: Penn State, Party School, Mahon, Spin

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The Big Game Weekend at the Nation's Number Two Party School

Penn State played Michigan at home this weekend and proved why it is deserving of the Princeton Review number two party school rank. Here is a compilation of events from the Collegian and CDT.

• I made my voyage to Happy Valley this weekend, intending to see a great game between Big Ten foes at a campus that I remember being very friendly in 2001. My, how times have changed. I had all kinds of objects hurled at me throughout the weekend, including full beers and cupcakes.

• Stephen Rosenhurd, class of 2002, said he and his friends rushed from the stadium to get in line at the Gingerbread Man, 130 Hiester St., to "drown our sorrows."

  "The feeling of a victory is at the bottom of the bottle," Mike Turns, class of 2005, said.

• Penn State student Allan Rothrock was cited for disorderly conduct and public drunkenness early yesterday morning for slapping the rear end of a police horse on the 200 block of Calder Way, according to the State College Police Department.



• The young woman is barely conscious when the medics find her sitting curbside along East Beaver Avenue.It's just before 2 a.m. Sunday. Emergency medical crews at Beaver Stadium have already fielded some 30 to 40 alcohol-related calls and requests -- probably more than that -- since daybreak Saturday.

  
  

  But now the booze calls are shifting heavily, and predictably, into the downtown. Medics are girding for a hectic night, thanks to the nighttime Penn State football game against the University of Michigan.[...]

  The young woman is barely conscious when the medics find her sitting curbside along East Beaver Avenue.

  
  

  The woman on East Beaver, however, has turned white. Friends are with her, and someone was concerned enough to summon an ambulance.

  The woman doesn't want to go to the hospital. She won't tell the responders her name until they call in the police.

  
  

  Within 15 minutes, she's bound for Mount Nittany Medical Center. She's flatulent in the back of a Centre LifeLink ambulance.

  She tells her hosts -- paramedic Tracy Reagan and emergency medical technician Nichole Garrity -- that she's smarter than them.

  
  

  She is, she says, working toward a master's degree. Another smell -- alcohol -- drifts through the vehicle.

  Reagan and Garrity hold back. Later, they congratulate each other for not giving the woman any lip.

  "They'll never realize," Garrity says, "what you're doing for them."




• At about 6:30 p.m. Saturday, Robert J. Voelker, of Tannersville, was charged with aggravated assault and resisting arrest after University police said he threw a can of beer at a state trooper and fought with officers attempting to arrest him. He was arraigned and sent to the Centre County Correctional Facility in lieu of $10,000 bail.

  
  

• [...]Philip G. DeCastro, of Ocean Township, N.J., was cited on disorderly conduct charges after he was allegedly observed throwing marshmallows at law enforcement near Section EA of Beaver Stadium at about 11:30 p.m, according to University police.

  
  

• Two males, one of whom was a Penn State alumnus, were apprehended for being publicly drunk in the State College Municipal Building courtyard about 3:30 p.m. Friday, according to police.

  
  

  State College police Sgt. Chris Fishel said the alumnus seemed unaware of his surroundings as he urinated in front of the police department's large windows.

  
  

  Numerous secretaries with a clear view of the male reported the incident to police.

• State College police said a Penn State student bit the owner of the Shandygaff, 212 E. Calder Way, after being denied entry to the bar around midnight Friday. Laurence Cheng, 21, allegedly stormed into the bar and was confronted by the owner. Cheng allegedly slapped the man and bit him on the hand. He was arrested and will likely be charged with simple assault according to State College Police.

• A University police officer was assaulted while attempting to arrest someone who was selling a football ticket. Charges have yet to be filed.

• At least two drunk pedestrians were injured after running into moving vehicles.

  Police said 22-year-old Raj Sahijwani, of State College, suffered minor injuries after he stepped into the path of a 1997 Honda Accord on East College Avenue at about 8:30 p.m. Saturday. He was cited for “intoxicated pedestrian.”

  While John Roy was “highly intoxicated,” State College police allege the 21-year-old from State College staggered off a North Atherton Street sidewalk onto the roadway, where he hit the rear of a 1990 Toyota Corolla. He suffered left hip pain, the police report said.

• Police also responded to an array of simple assaults and fights.

  At about 2 a.m. Sunday at the 500 block of East College Avenue, an unknown male punched James Zenex and broke his nose.

  Andrew Pascucci and Michael Peler were charged with disorderly conduct after State College police said they were fighting on East Beaver Avenue.

• A 43-year-old from Schwenksville was accused of being drunk and driving the wrong way on Interstate 80 after the Penn State-Michigan game Saturday night.

  According to state police at Lamar, Daniel Charles Preston told troopers he was heading to Bloomsburg from Beaver Stadium and did not know he was traveling west in the eastbound lane. State troopers stopped him just before midnight in Lamar Township, Clinton County.

  Preston, who was driving a 2003 Nissan Murano, was transported to Lock Haven Hospital. He will be charged with DUI, according to police.

The good news in all of this?

At the sole night game in 2005, drunks kept the medics busy. Forty people landed in Mount Nittany Medical Center that weekend for alcohol overdoses, and dozens more were treated for alcohol-related cuts and scrapes. The Nittany Lions won.

So far, this night has been relatively tame, probably because the Lions lost, medics say.

UPDATE: I spoke too soon. There wasn't any good news this past weekend. The CDT reports today that Mt. Nittany Medical Center treated 48 alcohol overdoses over the weekend which is eight more than during the big game weekend last year. The paper also reports that there were numerous-no numbers given- other injuries seen at the hospital which were likely alcohol use related.

My Fault? No, It's Not My Fault!

The CDT has a story today about the increase in the number of students carousing at night in the Highlands neighborhood of State College this Fall. The anecdotal evidence is supported by an increase in the number of police calls this year in the time period of late August to late September over last year. Tom King, the police chief in State College, attributes the increased numbers to the increased number of freshman that Penn State admitted this year. Penn State flack Bill Mahon offers the following in response to King's ascertion about the cause for the increase number of calls for noise violations and disorderly conduct.

Penn State spokesman Bill Mahon, in an e-mail, said the volume of alcohol peddlers in town has a bigger impact on the booze problem than freshman enrollment.

"Based on statistics like the huge increase in alcohol-related emergency-room visits last year, the alcohol problem in State College was at its worst level ever at a time when Penn State's enrollment numbers were actually down," Mahon wrote. "The data indicate the number of student alcohol overdose does not appear tied to enrollment. Borough and campus police arrests for public drunkenness jumped sharply in 2005, when enrollment was down."

Two things are noteworthy in this response. The first thing is that Mahon chooses to address the question of public drunkenness arrests which was not mentioned by King. Then having misrepresented the problem he places the blame on booze peddlers and accepts none of the responsibility for the University. The blame shifting is part of Spanier's pr strategy for dealing with the bad reputation Penn State enjoys as a party school. Borough council member Jeff Kern shot back,

"I would hope that the university would have more respect for its student body and the town than to (attribute) a serious problem to the environment," he said. "I think there are behavioral issues that need to be dealt with, by both town and gown ... and I think we're just a little overwhelmed right now.

Kern showing backbone and standing up for the borough is a welcome relief. Typically when Mahon or someone else from Old Main tries to shift the blame for the drinking problem to the town, the claim goes unanswered.

Finally, why would Mahon bring up Penn State's drinking problem when that really isn't the issue? After all, Penn State would prefer not to have the spotlight placed on its drinking problem. This may have something to do with Mahon shifting the discussion to alcohol and then blaming the bar owners.

[Councilwoman Elizabeth] Goreham and Councilman Jeff Kern said Penn State ought to pony up some extra money to help finance the added patrols. The university pays the borough about $445,000 per year in an impact fee and an in-lieu-of-tax arrangement.

"We just got 2,000 extra people (freshmen) on a semi-permanent basis who have no impact on our tax base but have a significant impact on our expenses," Kern said.

Penn State is willing to talk about its alcohol problem if it can help it avoid taking financial responsibility for the problems it creates.

Looking for a Good Reason to Drink?

The Collegian is working overtime to rationalize Penn State's drinking problem. This morning's Collegian reports on a study published by the Reason Foundation which attempts to explain the positive correlation between social drinking and income level. The report explains this association as follows. Our business culture is organized around the principle of it's who you know, not what you know. Drinking makes you popular. Therefore drinking helps you in the business world. The report actually dresses this up in serious academic language:"We hypothesize that drinking enhances social capital, which leads to superior market outcomes."

An alternative explanation for this association was given in a 2005 publication.

We conclude that most likely the positive association between drinking and earnings is the result of the fact that ethanol is a normal commodity, the consumption of which increases with income, rather than an elixer that enhances productivity.

Increased income leads to more social drinking not the other way around.

The 2005 study was publish by the National Bureau of Economic Research which according to their web site is a "non-partisan research organization" which disseminates "unbiased economic research among public policymakers, business professionals, and the academic community." The other study was published by the libertarian Reason Foundation which is an anti-tax group. The Reason Foundation uses the study to argue against excise taxes on alcohol. Without making a detailed comparison of the two studies which one has would have more credibility for you? I can tell that for me it is 2005 study.

Now there is a funny thing about the two studies, Bethany L. Peters is an author on both of them. Despite this fact, the Reason Foundation report, which was written after the 2005 paper, does not reference the 2005 paper. This illustrates how scholars can alter their research findings to fit the ideas of their patrons and why the commercialization of academic research is so problematic. However, that is a topic for another post.

In closing, I would like to say to Graham, you reap what you sow. You spin, lie, boast, rationalize, and take anti-intellectual postures, soon enough Penn State students are following along.

The Graham Spanier Award for Most Outrageous Spin Goes to...

The Collegian today has a truly stupid editorial in which they try their hand at turd polishing. Mount Nittany Medical Centre received 353 blood-alcohol emergency room visits during the 2005-2006 school year. How do you put a positive spin on this?

In a twisted sort of way, the numbers at Mount Nittany Medical Center probably represent a good thing. It just might mean that students are learning to err on the side of caution when it comes to possible alcohol poisoning.

The appallingly high number of students treated for alcohol related problems is an indication of more responsible behavior on the part of the students. That is bullshit worthy of Spanier. See what happens Graham when you set a bad example. The Collegian also breaks out this old saw to defend the party hearty crowd.

It is part of our culture. Penn State students study hard during the week and party hard during the weekend. We maintain a balance of work and fun that, overall, contributes to our lives.

Of course, here in Happy Valley the weekend starts on Thursday.

The truth is that most Penn State students are not challenged academically. Remember that in 2002 nearly 40% of all grades awarded at Penn State were A's and the University is ninth this year on the Princeton Review list of schools where you don't have to study. I think Penn State student Joel Gilchrest said it better in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette,"We have a motto here: Party hard, drink hard ... I mean, party hard, study hard. "

Spanier Speaks: He Doesn't Like Princeton Review.

Adam Smeltz at CentreSquawker noted on Monday that at last week’s Trustees meeting, Spanier addressed the Princeton Review ranking of Penn State as the number two party school in the nation. I think Adam was too generous to Spanier on his blog. Here is what Spanier said and my analysis of it.

The fall is also a time when college rankings come out. Some of them use meaningful measures to gauge a university's progress and some of them are, frankly, pretty silly.

On the silly side is the Princeton Review party school ranking, in which Penn State placed second.

I mention this only because of all the media attention it got. This particular "review" is little more than a publicity stunt to help them sell their guide, and involves people going to a Web site and voting for the school they want to name the winner. It could actually be more reflective of a school's overall popularity, but it has no legitimate basis for its conclusion.

As I have said to many people, we want students who come to Penn State to enjoy their college experience, and we think this is a fun and engaging environment, with lots for students to do. But the ranking is nothing more than a clever marketing trick to get attention to their guide, and the media naively buy into it every year.

There is just so much crap here it is hard to know where to begin in pulling it apart.

I guess the best place is with the sentence I’ve emphasized. This is a rather weak attempt put a positive spin on a ranking that places Penn State in a light which Spanier clearly thinks is negative. His denial that “it has [..] a legitimate basis for its conclusion,” is at best disingenuous. As I have noted elsewhere, Penn State flack Bill Mahon acknowledged the obvious to the CDT the day after the rankings were released: Penn State has an alcohol problem.

...[W]ith the amount of marketing of alcohol, he [Bill Mahon] is surprised the university isn't number one. He said 353 Penn State students were taken to the emergency room for alcohol overdoses last year.

Mahon follows Spanier’s public relations strategy for dealing with this problem by placing the blame for this problem outside the University. The fact that the ranking focuses the light back on Penn State is what has Spanier upset.

Let’s take the magnifying glass to a bit more of Spanier’s prepared remark.

As I have said to many people, we want students who come to Penn State to enjoy their college experience, and we think this is a fun and engaging environment, with lots for students to do. But the ranking is nothing more than a clever marketing trick to get attention to their guide, and the media naively buy into it every year

The fact is that Spanier’s response to the ranking, the banning of alcohol at tailgates while games are in progress, is nothing more than a clever marketing trick to shift attention away from the ranking and the media has naively bought into it. This ban does little to address the the overall alcohol problem at Penn State but, as I have noted, it has generated misleading and false headlines which give the impression that there is a total alcohol ban at tailgates. Perhaps Spanier is venting some professional jealousy about the success of a rival bullshit artist.

If Penn State were serious about addressing the alcohol problem, which the Princeton Review has brought to national attention, it might consider raising its academic standards. As I have previously discussed, grade inflation is a real problem at Penn State. In 2002, nearly 40% of all grades awarded at the University were A’s. There is time to party when an A is that easy to come-by. This is reflected in the little noted fact that Penn State ranked ninth on Princeton Review’s list of schools where you don’t have to study. Contrast Spanier’s public relations response with the response at the University of Colorado after it ranked number one on the Princeton Review party list in 2004. Dean Todd Gleason of the College of Arts and Sciences wrote in a memo to his faculty,

As we enter the 2004-2005 academic year, I would like to raise a topic for formal discussion in the College and in your unit. The past academic year brought us a number of events that threatened the reputation of the institution that many of us have labored most of our careers to enhance. One of these was Princeton Review¹s evaluation of CU Boulder as a party school.
The Princeton Review ranking is subject to methodological challenge. However, it raised questions and stimulated discussion in many quarters about whether or not our undergraduate population was being sufficiently challenged in their studies.

Recently, Hank Brown the president of the University of Colorado announced he would seek to place class rank on transcripts as a way of combating grade inflation. There is room to debate if this is the appropriate way to raise academic standards, but there is no debating that Colorado is attempting to deal with the core issue. On the other hand, Penn State has only dealt with the marketing problem.

Let’s revisit Spanier’s statement one last time.

. This particular "review" is little more than a publicity stunt to help them sell their guide, and involves people going to a Web site and voting for the school they want to name the winner.

Last year Penn State football was enjoying a resurgence and Penn State fans were competing for the title of Ultimate Tailgate Venue, in a contest run by Sports Illustrated. The Penn State propaganda portal Penn State Live encouraged fans to vote online for the University as the Ultimate Tailgate Venue and celebrated the Penn State victory. I have never heard anyone from Old Main complaining about the methodology involved in this ranking. The difference is that this was thought to be good for Penn State’s image, despite the fact that the role of alcohol at tailgates was emphasized by SI. For Spanier a ranking has bad methodology if he doesn’t like the ranking. Flawed methodology will go unnoticed if the thinks a ranking will help him market Penn State.

This is all part of the Penn State Way.

How PSU PR Works.

The Penn State pr counterattack on the Princeton Review ranking is meeting with some success. The partial ban on alcohol at football games is garnering misleading headlines which make it appear that Penn State has put a total ban into place. Here is the headline from MSNBC.

New rule forbids drinking at tailgates during Penn State games

That one is technically accurate, but most people who glance at it will still think that the ban is total. Here is how the San Francisco Gate played the story.

Drinking Banned at Penn State Tailgates.

That one is just false.

For the most part these are reprints of the AP story which does by the second paragraph give the correct information.

Hoping to cut down on underage drinking and create a safer post-game environment, Penn State is banning alcohol at parking lot tailgate parties during football games inside Beaver Stadium.

Imbibing before kickoff and after the final whistle, though is still OK.

Nonetheless, it is the headlines which most people will note and Old Main knows this.

Having It Both Ways, That Is the Penn State Way.

I would like to correct the record. Tim Curley wasn't making an empty boast when he said, "Penn State is pleased and proud to be recognized annually as one of the nation's finest hosts to this tradition,..." There is in fact some basis for making this claim. In 2005 Sports Illustrated ranked Penn State as first in the nation for football tailgates. The honor was based on an online poll. Penn State coveted this honor and was proud of it when it was garnered. This can be seen from the fact that the propaganda portal Penn State Live encouraged voting and celebrated the victory.

Clearly, being recognized for tailgating was consider a marketing plus and no one appeared bothered by the unscientific nature of the online poll. Contrast this Tyson Kendig's take on the Princeton Review ranking of Penn State as the number two party school in the nation.

Mr. Kendig also questioned the legitimacy of the survey.

"It's really an insignificant ranking," he said, "and it discredits itself by not being scientifically based. It's essentially an online poll.

The validity of a particular ranking is only of concern to Penn State when they think it is bad for their image.

Some of the Wealthiest People I Know Are Drunks.

This is just too funny. Penn State has come up with a half-assed measure to deal with its national recognition as a party school; it has banded alcohol consumption at tailgate parties during the game. It's fine to get drunk before the game. It's fine to get drunk after the game. However, you will no longer be able to get drunk during the game. Here is how Tim Curley Penn State athletic director explained the new rule.

"Tailgating before and after football games has evolved into one of college football's most recognized, most treasured traditions that bring family, friends, alumni and colleagues together for good times and good memories," said Tim Curley, Penn State athletic director. "Penn State is pleased and proud to be recognized annually as one of the nation's finest hosts to this tradition, largely because Penn Staters know how to celebrate responsibly and respectfully."

"With increasing frequency, however, a number of fans are coming to the tailgate areas with no intention of attending the football game. They have no interest in supporting the team inside the stadium and are simply utilizing the parking lot areas for group parties," Curley said. "This has diminished what the great majority of Nittany Lion tailgaters value about the best atmosphere in college football."

"We fully expect that our fans will continue to uphold the national reputation that Penn Staters enjoy by continuing to tailgate responsibly before and after every game, while cheering the Nittany Lions on to victory inside Beaver Stadium."

What's with the "finest hosts" nonsense? Can't anyone in central administration at Penn State open their mouth without making an empty boasts?

As far as the new policy goes, I am having trouble making sense of it. Is Curley suggesting that only those who come to tailgates during the game over consume alcohol? Is he saying that the privilege of getting drunk on Penn State property should only go to those who support the team? Or, perhaps he is simply hoping that that the University can appear to be doing something about that "national reputation which Penn Staters enjoy" without pissing off wealthy donors or potential donors? I would have to go with door #3 on this one.

The Punchline

Penn State is on the verge of becoming the butt of a joke as a result of being ranked the number two party school in the nation by Princeton Review. Today the Philadelphia Inquirer published a story not on the ranking, but on Penn State football. Yet, the ranking was obliquely referred to in a joking way in the lede.

The 21,000 student tickets available for each of Penn State's seven home football games sold in June like kegs on homecoming weekend, consumed in a record 13 days, two months quicker than in 2005.

You can be sure that Spanier is not happy with this turn of events. All of his spin which has been carefully crafted to give Penn State the patina of gravitas is being overshadowed by the revelation of the gritty reality of life at University Park. Will Spanier respond in a substantive way or will he try to spin his way out of this problem? My money is on spin.

There Is Time to Party when A's Are Easy to Come-by.

It is obvious to nearly everyone who has spent any time in the Centre Region, with the exception of those who are willfully ignorant, that Penn State is a party school. It should also be evident to these people that a major reason that it is a party school is Penn State football. I think we can all agree that eliminating football is not an option for solving the party school problem. There is however a contributing factor to the problem which if eliminated might go a long way to abating the problem.

Penn State is insufficiently challenging for its undergraduates. In all of the excitement about the party school ranking it has been overlooked that Penn State was also 9th in the nation on the students don't study list. Another indication that Penn State is too easy, is rampant grade inflation. The University Faculty Senate (USF) documented this in a 2003 report.

The following graphs are from the UFS report. The first graph is of average GPA versus time. It shows a steady increase in the average GPA at Penn State since the late 1980's. It went from around 2.80 to 3.05 on a four point scale in about fifteen years. The report also looks at average GPA across time for each of the colleges in the University. The second graph shows, that while the grading standards in each school differed, the overall trend is present in each.



The third graph uses percentage of A's awarded as a measure of grade inflation. It too shows the same upward trend starting in the late 1980's that the average GPA graph does. In the last year shown proportion of A's awarded stood near 40%. At the beginning of the inflationary period this proportion was less than 30%.







Everyone is aware that grade inflation was a problem during the Vietnam Era when faculties did not want to condemn students to Vietnam by flunking them out and and ending their student deferments. The next graph places the current period of inflation in the context of the Vietnam Era inflation. The current inflation in the number of A's awarded at Penn State far exceeds that of the Vietnam Era. The rate of inflation during the Vietnam Era appears to be greater than the current period, but constant. The current inflation rate appears to be increasing.


There is another distinction in these periods. The Vietnam Era inflations in grades were at the expense of C's given. The current inflation is at the expense of both B's and C's. In the mid 1990's the percentage A's awarded first surpasses the percentage of B's awarded. This makes A's by far the most often awarded grade at Penn State.

The Faculty Senate Committee sought an explanation for the current inflation. To this end, the following annotated graph was produced to place the inflation in the context of changes made within the University that might effect the grade distribution.






All of the changes noted, with the exception of the SRTE implimentation, are those which should have a positive effect on student learning. SRTE stands for Student Rating of Teaching Effectiveness. In 1987 these student feedback instruments were instituted. Grade inflation followed. All of the possilble other explanation for grade inflation don't stand up to scrutiny, including the idea quality of students admitted to Penn State has increased. The graph of average SAT scores of matriculating freshman versus time shows no systematic increase during the recent inflationary period.


The Faculty Senate danced around the obvious explanation of the cause.

It is very difficult to say exactly what is driving the present increase in GPA over time and why. Because the onset of the increasing GPA is closely tied to the implementation of the SRTE we could argue that the SRTE has had the effect of providing an incentive for the faculty to improve their teaching skills and that improvement is manifested by better grades. Another possibility is that the increase in GPA over time is a consequence of easier grading by faculty seeking higher SRTE scores. We could also argue that there was a delayed benefit from initiating such teaching and learning institutes as the University Scholars Program and the Instructional Development Program. The effect of these trends continued throughout the 1990s as other teaching and learning endeavors came on line as well. However, mean and median SAT scores of incoming students do not support the argument that GPA is increasing because the Penn State student is better prepared than ever before when entering the university.

Based on my observations of faculty grading habits, my money is on easier grading as a result of the SRTE. Along with dodging an explanation for the recent period of grade inflation, the committee settled on some very weak measures to deal with the problem.

1. Grades continue to be assigned solely on the basis of the instructor's judgment as to the student's scholastic attainment as long as the assignment is consistent with university, college, division, and department standards.

2. The President of the University in conjunction with the Deans and Department/Division Heads actively encourages faculty and undergraduate program heads as they work to define, implement, and maintain the standards they deem most appropriate for achieving a vision like one of those depicted in Figure 9.

3. Units actively monitor grade changes over time, take the action necessary to fully understand the reasons for changes, and remedy the situation when it becomes apparent that standards are being compromised and the vision for the institutional standards is not being achieved.

If Spanier is sufficiently serious about changing Penn State into a well respected institution and wants to rid the University of its party school image, it is time for him to grab the bull by the horns and take steps to raise academic standards for undergraduates. I'm not holding my breath. Spanier is all about image, but he won't tackle the tough problems at the core of the image problems. Further he himself is far too anti-intellectual to be an effective intellectual leader.

Party hard, drink hard ... I mean, party hard, study hard

Yesterday, in response to the Princeton Review's ranking of Penn State as the number two party school in the nation, PSU flack Bill Mahon took the "yeah, it's true, we've gotta problem, but it ain't our fault" approach with the CDT. Clearly denying that Penn State is a big party school wasn't going to work with the local paper; most reader have observed first hand either student drinking or its consequences , such as barf on the streets of State College on a Saturday or a Sunday mornings. Shifting the blame to bar owners was really Mahon's only recourse with this audience.

Today the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette tackled the story. They spoke with Penn State's second string flack Tyson Kendig. Most readers of the Post-Gazette are not intimately familiar with life in Happy Valley, hence he didn't admit that Penn State's ranking as the #2 party school had even a kernel of truth to it. Rather, Kendig took the, "sure colleges and universities in general have alcohol problems, without addressing whether Penn State was any worse than average" approach. I guess he didn't think it was his job to needlessly confirm the truth to readers who are in the dark? He then took the offensive with a two prong attack. First he attacked the methodology used in the Princeton Review ranking and he then tried to shift attention to a ranking he considers more scientific-read more favorable.

"I don't know that being regarded as a top party school is flattering," said Tysen Kendig, university spokesman. "Certainly, we want our students to have a great experience at the university, both academically and socially. But I think we need to be careful at all colleges and universities because we are dealing with a climate of alcohol abuse. And that's definitely not something that any college or university would be proud of."

Mr. Kendig also questioned the legitimacy of the survey.

"It's really an insignificant ranking," he said, "and it discredits itself by not being scientifically based. It's essentially an online poll.

"I will give credit to the Princeton Review. They do a terrific job of marketing these surveys. There are a lot of other rankings out there that quantify other aspects of the college experience. Last week, Washington Monthly had a poll of the best universities in terms of service to the nation, and it was more scientific. Penn State ranked No. 3 in that poll.

"Personally, I think that's a much more significant poll, yet they've gotten relatively little attention compared to the party school ranking.

"It's unfortunate."

Kendig also echoed the comments of Mahon from yesterday. But where as Mahon acknowledged a problem and shifted the blame to bar owners, Kendig gives the impression that Penn State is winning the battle against excessive drink despite the efforts of bar owners.

Mr. Kendig said the university is doing what it can to keep partying under control.

"It's a constant battle, especially in an area where the alcohol climate is significant," he said, "where there are ads in the daily newspapers promoting drink specials at bars every day of the week."

Mr. Kendig said there are marketing campaigns aimed at raising students' awareness of the dangers of irresponsible drinking. There's also a partnership of university officials, government leaders, police and representatives from various bars and beer distributors "looking at this problem and trying to promote responsible drinking and get us away from situations where we end up with students in the hospital."

According to university officials, more than 350 Penn State students were taken to the emergency room for alcohol overdoses last year.

Since that last sentence is not attributed to Kendig, it likely came from the Penn State Live story to which I linked yesterday.
The Post-Gazette realized that Kendig was spinning them.

While the students who voted Penn State so high embrace the vibrant social life, university officials do their best to play it down.

And they had the common sense to talk with some students about the reality. First there was Kathryn Stetz a waitress from Sports Cafe & Grill whose observation accurately reflect my own.

"There's a lot of alcohol at Penn State campus," she said, "but it's more of a social thing you do with your friends.

"If you want to drink on a Monday night, you can find someone who will drink with you on a Monday night. But most people stick to Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. It's crazy here on the weekends."

Ms. Stetz acknowledged "underage drinking is common."

"Freshmen, they come here, it's their first time away from home, and a lot of them have never drunk before," she said. "They know they can go to a fraternity and get a beer if they want to get a beer."

Fittingly, the paper gives a frat boy the last word.

Joel Gilchrist, 22, a fifth-year senior at Penn State, lives at the Zeta Psi fraternity house on East Foster Avenue just off campus. His reaction to the university's ranking is the opposite of that from the administration.

"I think it's awesome," he said. "It may be a little high, but we're definitely a Top 10 school.

"This is a good party house. We always have a lot of people. We have a motto here: Party hard, drink hard ... I mean, party hard, study hard. The week is for school work. But you can always find a good time here on the weekends."

Still, he said, it doesn't get out of control. Zeta Psi is part of the university's Interfraternity Council, which monitors the Greek organizations. They aren't allowed to have kegs on the premises and, yes, they do check IDs of people coming in, he said.

"Everyone in the house has a responsibility to keep things under control," he said.

Football weekends, Mr. Gilchrist said, are the best -- or the worst, depending on your perspective.

"Some of the older alumni come to town, we don't tend to be as wild, I guess," he said, "but the younger alumni who graduated maybe two, three, four years ago, they still have the frat guy in them."

As far as the ranking is concerned, he doesn't doubt its legitimacy.

"If you have that many people saying it, there must be something to it," he said. "They must be having a good time."

Thank you Gilchrist for making my point about football culture and drinking culture going hand -in-hand.

Update: The Philadelphia Inquire and most of the other Pennsylvania papers that I checked only carried the AP wire story on the Princeton Review Ranking. The exception was the Harrisburg Patriot-News. As can be seen from the lede,"Penn State University students have proved they don't need more reasons to party, but here's another one anyway," their story took the position that the ranking was obvious. Penn State flack Bill Mahon provided the Patriot-News with Penn State's take on the ranking. He wasn't as forthright as he had been with the CDT.

PSU spokesman Bill Mahon said that the study, because it relies on online voters, discredits itself as statistically irrelevant.

"If you conducted research that way in a class at Penn State, you'd fail the class," he said.[...]

"All the education we can do, it's still difficult to compete with 5-cent-beer ads," Mahon said

That sounds more like Kendig. So far, we see two different versions of Penn State's response to the ranking, one for the home audience and a second one for everyone else.