Now, before you start pointing fingers, calling me a "goody two-shoes" or a "fun ruiner", let me explain.

I'm not judging you for participating in IUPatty's weekend. I know quite a few people who are capable of going out every weekend but still doing really well in all of their classes and prioritizing school. Just because you party, I know that doesn't mean you have to be failing out and skipping class. You can be academically successful while maintaining a social life.

I've been to college parties before. I am not by nature a huge partier, but that doesn't mean I don't occasionally enjoy going out for a good night. But there's something about IUPatty's that just totally isn't worth it to me.

My biggest concern is my future career. I am underage. I am also a Criminology major, so if I so much as get busted at a party where I'm not even drinking, I can be slapped with a compliance charge, which remains on my record for several years, effectively ruining any chances I have of getting my dream job, and that's just best case scenario. I would be at much higher risk of getting any charges because of the increase of security around campus, especially an underage, but all of which would be detrimental to my career path. I've heard horror stories of employers finding out if a student simply went to any IUPatty's events- not even that they were drinking, necessarily, just that they went- and turning them down for a job just because of the negative stigma that IUPatty's holds in Western PA.

That brings me to my next point; just hearing the word IUPatty's makes a lot of people's eyes roll into the backs of their heads. Over the years, news stories have surfaced after IUPatty's weekend with reports of arrests, assaults, rapes, riots and pretty much every terrible college party stereotype. I don't want people to think of IUP as only being known for the crappy and tarnishing events that happen during IUPatty's. IUP has so much to offer, and I know that everyone who goes here loves it for some reason that's not IUPatty's or parties. I personally don't want to be involved or caught up in an event that's going to be on the Monday morning news or something that is going to make me or our school look like we don't care about it.

If you went out this weekend for IUPatty's, I hope you were safe, and I hope that neither your nor IUP's reputation have been tarnished. You probably heard it all last week from professors, but take it from another student who doesn't want to wake up tomorrow to an email from President Driscoll with "Condolences" in the subject line.