Maybe you heard about the recent incident in Tennessee with fans "taking down the goalposts." How is this behavior at all connected with receiving a college education? Seems more like "Lord of the Flies."
Why do we keep indulging such foolishness, football itself being foolish? We might think college athletic rivalries are amusing. Are we charmed by the thought of crazed fans, some with face painting, many presumably with excess alcohol in their system, invading the end zone and "taking down goalposts."
The story strikes a nerve here in Morris MN. I guess a few years have passed since our infamous incident. UMM students indeed assaulted the goalposts, brought them down with the terrible consequence of a student losing his life. Perhaps this was too long ago to be recalled in the NPR article about the Tennessee episode. I saw no note about it there.
The 2005 UMM Homecoming football game was my last for being involved with the Morris newspaper. I got up that morning feeling zero special anticipation about the football game. The Cougars play on a very small-college level. I was present in the first half to shoot some photos. I returned to campus later for the volleyball match, was struck by how parking lots were still full due to the game not being over yet. I'm sure many fans lingered as gawkers.
It was an immensely sad spectacle on the south end of the old UMM field. Crime scene tape was there the next day. But we all knew what happened.
The chancellor talked about how some students had "decided to do something foolish." I definitely remember the "foolish" word.
So instead of continuing a historical account of that day, I'd like to expand on the subject of how we expect college students to behave. I really believe we have seen some steps forward. But too much of the "foolishness" remains. So this thought flickers in my head as I ponder again the horrific murders in the college town of Moscow, Idaho.
Upon learning the news, I remembered an old acquaintance from that town or city who played the bassoon. Is it true we can all readily remember the bassoon players from our high school band? The instrument can be the subject of good-natured derision. Is the sound of this double-reed instrument really so essential? I'd venture to say the typical high school bassoon player is pretty refined, academically advanced. I digress obviously.
We enter Thanksgiving weekend 2022 with the distraction of the Idaho murders, wondering how in hell this could happen. Let's take a look at the article from "The Guardian." Might we learn anything from here about foolish college student behavior? And if we do, is it enough to make you more concerned than before about the irresponsible behavior of so many students?
There's a long background of considering such behavior a rite of passage. Talk about St. Cloud State and you might arouse smiles from people who peg that place a "party school." Now in the year 2022, has that reputation really faded? I mean, I hope it has, I suspect it has, but I cannot be sure. How on Earth is this reputation to be countenanced at the place itself?
SCSU had a president last name of Potter, may he rest in peace, who saw the time was ripe for attacking the reputation. It was a belated effort, still necessary, still commendable. Incredibly, Homecoming itself had to be put into hiatus (or mothballs) for a few years. Alas, the very announcement of that seemed to reinforce the problem - man, it's this bad! Potter did not make himself available for quotes in the Star Tribune article.
I sure wish SCSU well in its efforts at righting the ship, image-wise. We cannot proclaim success on this until mention of "St. Cloud State" is not met with a smile. My goodness, the State of Minnesota has an investment in this college and others around the state. Heaven help us if we cannot take seriously the mission of preparing young people for responsible adult life.
There ought to be a concerted push to get 18-year-olds to really truly think they have entered adulthood. You smile at that? Well then, that's part of the problem. Maybe colleges actually like "grooming" themselves as places for 18 to 22-year-olds to blow off steam as a rite of passage - adulthood can wait.
Absolute poppycock. I'll quote Peter Schiff the economist: "Isn't a high school diploma supposed to mean something?" Kids spend countless hours through the years in high school classes, yet we feel it's essential for them to hopscotch into "college." If your aim is to be a doctor, lawyer or other such thing, understandable. For so many others, maybe not so much.
The foolish behavior of college has true dangers. Were there kids around the goalpost here who had consumed alcohol? Or in Tennessee after their football win over Alabama? Who cares who wins a stupid football game?
Let's see what the Guardian article has to say about the four Idaho victims' behavior prior to the horrific event. Let's start here: "Mogen and Goncalves were at a downtown bar called the Corner Club between 10 p.m. and 1:30 a.m." Get the drift? The two then drifted to that notorious late-night food truck. What's the old saying about "nothing good happens after (fill in late-night time)?"
Again from the article: "During the same time frame, Chapin and Kernodle were at a party at Sigma Chi, a fraternity house on the University of Idaho campus, until approximately 1:45 a.m."
We can all easily see college students behaving as such. But is it time to really clamp down on such distractions, such pointless behavior? Is it time to reconstruct the proper life for young people between the ages of 18 and 22? Could those young people just join the rest of us and not be bored doing so? What would it take?
Our culture can in fact change. Look what MADD did to turn the screws on impaired driving.
I have a vision of college life in the future. I see campuses that are wholly utilitarian. A collection of buildings with classrooms, dormitories with rules and quiet hours that are truly enforced. No need for superfluous amenities, my favorite example to cite being the "climbing walls."
Let's try to kill "college football game day" as a time for rambunctious behavior. Let's kill the notion of alcohol consumption being expected. Screw the face or body painting, and for sure screw "taking down the goalposts." Are these expectations of mine so extreme? Are they not in fact doable?
One more thing in today's thoughts: I am modifying what I wrote yesterday (Wednesday) in connection to the Idaho murders. I wrote extensively yesterday, posting on both my blog sites, before I had taken enough time to really settle on a primary conclusion. I feel that I in fact missed the primary conclusion.
With each passing day in which there are no suspects, we should conclude that these were skilled killers. Had to be. A foolish kid who just felt jealousy or whatever would have been caught by now. With each passing day, the very future of the college in Moscow is in jeopardy. Parents will want to pull their kids from the community. Let the chips fall where they may, but the kids will just have to leave. So authorities must in fact be feeling suffocating pressure. And they can't really come up with anything?
So today I'll just share my revised thought, a very simple one, and that is that it was a "drug kill." Maybe one or more of the kids got involved in the underground illicit drug business. Remember the famous scene in the movie "Pulp Fiction?" Too unpleasant for me to describe.
And maybe my new theory is too unpleasant for many of the high-profile commentators we are hearing from now. And yet we all need to share our honest observations. Is it possible that any of the girls was a "sugar baby" for someone? Why would the kids gravitate to such behavior? The answer is simple: money. College is hugely expensive today. Kids would consider many options to try to avoid suffocating debt for the rest of their lives.
So, maybe that's the problem we really have to clamp down on.
- Brian Williams - morris mn Minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com
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