Fairfield Students + Fairfield Beach = Drunk. It seems any time these two concepts are mentioned the same conclusion is always made. We saw it happen last week when The Connecticut Post ran an editorial titled “Students need Clam Jam 101 course.” Fairfield students conceptualized Clam Jam 101; it’s The Connecticut Post who has yet to attend.
The Post stated, “Fairfield University needs to move swiftly to stop any resurgence of ‘Animal House’ partying by its students at Fairfield Beach.” Well, we wish there were “Animal House” partying going on at the beach. It would be much more fun. Any state school party scene makes the Fairfield party scene look like a high school house party.
We can all attest that when visiting other schools we have seen the sheer destructive nature of partying students. Glass tables are broken and front doors ripped apart as cops show up to the party.
Compared to these other schools, Fairfield student debauchery is pretty tame. We might be a bit loud, we might urinate in public places, and we might drop a few beer cans along the way, but we aren’t leaving a path of pricey destruction in our wake. We pay enough to live in the beachside houses.
As for The Connecticut Post, we have yet to meet an Otter, Boon, or Bluto down on Fairfield Beach Road, nor have we seen the First Selectman’s daughter returned to his house via a shopping cart. So let’s lay off the Animal House name-calling; you just sound like Neidermeyer.
We have decided to look at beach life critically, putting aside the old argument that involves complaining about partying students after buying a house down by the beach. Too often, students dismiss the complaint, relating it to the same as buying a house next to train tracks and complaining that trains wake you up every morning. Clearly the point has been made by now – we are not perfect neighbors and year-round residents should have known better. We are not students who just want to party all the time. We are students at a respectable university.
The beach is not an ideal situation for any parties currently involved. College students are finally let loose from the scrutiny that comes with living on campus and now are free and able to have kegs and larger parties. Year-round residents simply want to be able to go to sleep before midnight and not be woken up by students’ drunken antics.
Students pay high rental rates. Year round residents pay big bucks for their property. Everybody thinks they are entitled to their own way of life, and all live within spitting distance of each other. It is sheer madness.
The University’s only concern is that the beach damages the school’s reputation and strains town and gown relations. Whether or not the administration is willing to admit it or not, we all know they would be happier if there were no beach.
We understand that for an up and coming school like Fairfield, the old partying mentality from the 80s, 90s, and early 2000s is not what the school wants prospective students knowing about. We are caught between a school that will soon be competing with College of the Holy Cross and current students who want the good old days back. They need to find a way to ease the tension.
The Post’s editorial failed to include the most important part of an editorial – a call to action with clear, non-vague suggestions. (Opinion writing 101. We should know, we are all taking the class right now).
The Post suggests, “Explain history — and consequences — to a new generation of students.” Clam Jam is a product of knowing the history and wanting to keep the tradition alive.
Knowing the history is what has brought about the resurgence of Clam Jam the past two years. We all certainly know the consequences, we don’t need to be told about them anymore.
So what would we have suggested instead?
Fairfield University: Officially announce that you intend on using new dorms to keep students away from The Beach. Give us the plan which will slowly reduce the number of students living at the beach year by year. Then provide us with the year you plan to have no students living at The Beach anymore.
Stop towing the line to keep alumni happy, because it also makes we as students feel lied to. We all know it will happen. Give us a date already.
The Post: Stop attacking students and possibly look at the story from the prospective of students. There is injustice on both sides.
Realize that students bring good to the community and offer a lot more than how you have been painting us recently. This past September in your article, “Life’s not always a beach for students, neighborhood residents” not once did you quote a student living at the beach, just the Police Chief, Fairfield Administrators and members of FBRA. It might have been nice to give students a voice.
Year Round Residents: Find a common ground with students and work towards a harmonious relationship. How would you like it if your kids, when they go to college, were getting arrested by their neighbors at 11:10 p.m. for being loud?
Also realize that we pay absurd amounts to landlords and often never get our security deposit back no matter how much we clean. We are sorry if we seem a bit self-entitled, but we pay a lot and would like to have the college experience we were hoping for.
It might sound selfish, but then again, we are called immature, drunken, idiots all the time, so what can you expect?
Students: Yes, we live at the beach. Yes, students from campus come down to the beach. Yes, it is creepy when members of FBRA take pictures of us partying at The Point at 3 p.m. Yes, we are 21 and can legally buy kegs and provide alcohol. But we should be more respectful of neighbors at The Beach. Just because we can party 24/7, doesn’t mean we should. Let’s try to prove the stereotype wrong and not continue to strengthen it.
Clam Jam: What we would say as the teachers of the Clam Jam course is simple. It is a day in which we can all celebrate the end of school. We can enjoy music, friends, and yes alcohol. It is not meant to create destruction or a distrubance but instead bring the school together. For those who have never wittnessed Clam Jam, don’t knock it. Look at the pictures and don’t you wish you could have been there with us?
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