Once/always

It seems that Ball State isn't the only university in the Hoosier State to get a lot of flak for underage drinking this past weekend.

At Purdue, five fraternities were suspended for violating their university's ban of alcohol at freshman orientation week events. Whereas the police were the only folks in charge to crack down on underage drinking @ BSU, @ Purdue it was the Interfraternity Council who reported the violations & in turn acted accordingly to suspend the fraternities in question.

A tale of two campuses. Two similar stories to tell. A lot of lessons to be learned.

True, parties & drinking have been part & parcel of the college experience for some portion of the student population for who knows how long, even more so at the start of the school year, as students have finally broken free from the grasp of the home life they've been living virtually all summer. But with that newfound sense of freedom, of being away from home to celebrate this newfound freedom...there also comes accountability & responsibility as well.

Zeta Beta Tau, now suspended, found that out the hard way as with countless others who got nailed by the police back in Muncie. At Purdue, the Greek system is short five fraternities; these suspended chapters also are finding out the hard way about freedom & the need to hold themselves accountable & responsible for the violations which they committed under the IFC's nose.

For all of the above, the party is over. Hopefully the Greek systems at Purdue & at Ball State got a good wake-up call in light of these incidents. This is not to say that the partying will die down; far from it. But after all these awful headlines we've had the chance to read, the parties are going to proceed with extreme caution from here on out.