Column:

Beer is better than coloring books

By John Hendel

Published Jan. 19, 2007

Greetings, Columbia. With a new semester comes new columnists and apparently, somehow, I am one of them.

This semester continues the tradition of a Maneater columnist writing out of London, as I follow in the footsteps of Ryan Gladstone and Joe Furmanek. Hopefully you can indulge me, at least for the next few months.

In my initial days wandering around London what strikes me the most is the difference between the attitudes toward students at MU and the attitudes at Imperial College, my host university.

At the recent study abroad orientation, Imperial College reps told us about its student union fun. Every Wednesday, Imperial College's student union hosts a night known as Sin City. Themes for the evening include a bar games and beer night, a pornstar foam party and a Valentine's night full of David Hasselhoff impersonators. The Union bar offers the cheapest drinks around town and always attracts hoards of students.

"I fully endorse binge drinking," one presenter remarked.

This blew my mind. The IC establishment, as part of their official orientation, was not only telling us the best ways to get wasted but providing the actual means at their student bar. What kind of country am I living in?

To be fair, MU offers its own nightly entertainment. They call it "Mizzou After Dark." Every Friday MU Student Life organizes a fun-filled evening devoid of alcohol.

Let's look at how Mizzou After Dark kicked off the beginning of last semester, for instance. Students apparently enjoyed the exhilaration of activities including, "make-your-own music video, freaky snapshots, wax hands, Madden NFL 2006 tournament, free arts and crafts projects, music and dancing, board games, free pizza and soda, free haircuts, free cosmic bowling, free billiards and more."

This was a stark contrast to how London's Imperial College kicked off the semester. One old flier I saw advertised a "Nude Year's Eve" bash a couple weeks ago.

As I scanned the list, other Mizzou After Dark events proved to be equally thrilling. MU students had the opportunity to decompress in a cooking demo night, a scrapbooking craft night and even a relax night where students could "even sit down with a coloring book."

This would all make sense if Mizzou After Dark targeted 12-year-olds. Coloring books? I can enjoy that as much as the next guy who's in touch with his inner child, but MU seems to have this general attitude of vice denial permeating throughout all these programs. The officials perpetuate the illusion and double standard that MU students should not express their sexuality or behave outside a conventional boxed set of behaviors straight out of a '50s TV show.

In Europe, my initial impressions lead me to believe that is not the case here. This London college regards its students as adults and naturally includes the drinking and debauchery in its dialogue.

Does mature treatment mean a student has to engage in these behaviors? Certainly not - that's personal discretion. But Imperial College accepts these behaviors without a blink of the eye, and I believe MU should learn from this. As I've seen from personal experience, Columbia has countless parties exactly like those the Imperial Union holds, but MU officials tend to turn a blind eye to the rampant drinking occurring in Greek life and ever-so-quietly in their residence halls. It's as though the idea of college partying twists their stomach into a knot.

MU could definitely learn a thing or two from its pub-laden neighbor to the east.