House parties a good place to socialize
Mike Jones' words to the new students at UW-Madison ('Freshmen beware: Parties are overrated,' Sep. 5, 2001) on that otherwise fine Wednesday were naught but the unfounded lashings of a bitter tongue. Freshmen do not pay $7 to drink in a junior's basement. People who throw house parties do not ask for $7 because they want your $7, they do it because they think that if they make the price high enough, you will go away.
House parties are part of the lifeblood of this institution. They allow students to go out and not have to empty their wallets in a bar for a few Long Islands and the privilege of looking over their shoulders every five seconds for the cops (if they have fake IDs). Going to a friend's apartment is also not an option as they are freshmen in the dorms' understood to be at least marginally dry. Drunken debauchery, whilst closely monitored, is hardly any fun at all anyway.
House parties are for meeting people, running into people you have classes with and striking up a conversation and, of course, getting wasted cheaply. I noticed that you told freshmen that the bars or the library are better places to meet people to shack up with. While I laud both your alcoholism and your studiousness, I wonder what kind of girls you are looking for, as never in all my alcohol-clouded judgments have I ever cruised a morgue for hotties (re: coffin). Please do not poison the minds of our younger students with bitter tirades stemming from failure to dominate the social order at basement kegathons. Lastly, who cares if some poor student is getting heat for his house from this? You are getting a better deal than you would at any regular establishment, and the hosts are putting themselves at risk for massive fines. Your time would be better spent copying phone numbers to call off of bathroom stalls in search of the fabled 'good time.'
Mike Schmidt
UW-Madison Senior
Tenant Resource Center needs funding
Dane County is currently considering a 38 percent cut in its funding to the Tenant Resource Center. The TRC is an invaluable resource to all UW-Madison students. There is nowhere else to turn for free assistance when your landlord threatens to evict you or refuses to fix your toilet. I urge each student, as residents of Dane County, to contact Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk to voice your disapproval. You may contact her at falk@co.dane.wi.us in the hope that she will restore all funding to the TRC. And if your landlord is threatening to evict you or won't fix your toilet, call the Tenant Resource Center for free assistance.
Russell Ainsworth
UW-Madison Law Student
