There’s no indication State Patty’s Day is slowing down.
The 2011 version of the student-created day of debauchery was the busiest for State College Police in the event’s five-year history. Police made 234 criminal arrests over the unsanctioned drinking-holiday weekend a year ago and fielded 480 calls.
And, a Facebook group titled, “Official Facebook Page: State Patty’s Day 2012” has more than 10,000 users registered as attending this year’s event, set for Feb. 25.
But might it take something more than the worst moment in the history of Penn State for the holiday to lose its momentum? Might it take a student death before State Patty’s Day comes to a halt?
“It always takes something like that in every college city and town,” said Tracy Bell, the store manager at The Family Clothesline. A former Oklahoma State cheerleader, Bell experienced tragedy when she lost a close friend in the 2001 Oklahoma State plane crash that killed 10.
‘It always takes something catastrophic that makes people go, ‘OK, wait a minute, we can’t do that.’ ‘
Not so, some students say, citing the size of Penn State’s student body.
“The university seems to try and make it so that you’re not just a number, but in the end it kind of comes out that way,” said Justin Sumpman, a sophomore majoring in mechanical engineering. “It would be tragic, but everyone would eventually go on with their own daily routine and come next year probably forget about the whole incident.”
Damon Sims, Penn State’s vice president for student affairs, does not think State Patty’s Day is heading toward tragedy.
Instead, he’s hoping students re-take control of the holiday they created and acknowledge the excess of the partying is beyond reason.
“I heard from students last year that their out of town guests thought the occasion was far less remarkable than they’d been told it would be,” Sims wrote in an email. “If we can continue to diminish expectations of the out of town crowd, they should be less inclined to pay us a visit on this date.”
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