Young and old(er) see eye to eye
Dean Coppola and senior Steve Swieciki talk about alcohol's role as they see it
Issue date: 4/25/08 Section: Features
By Lee Coppola
Dean of the Russell J. Jandoli School of
Journalism and Mass Communication
Many things have changed since my days at St. Bonaventure from 1960 to 1964.
There are more buildings, many more.
Women live on campus and outnumber the males in the classrooms. Far more lay professors and far fewer friars do the teaching.
But one thing has remained constant - Bonaventure's reputation as a party school. In fact, a prospective student told me recently he was leaning against attending Bona's because he heard it was a party school. I told him all universities and colleges were party schools ... if you want them to be.
Let me be honest. I imbibed in alcohol during my stint as an undergraduate in the then journalism department. But, let me add a caveat - the legal drinking age then was 18. And I can't remember drinking anything but beer while at Bona's. And I never drank so much I passed out or had to seek medical attention. Some did, to be sure, but the cases of "binge" drinking, a term unknown to us then, were far and few between.
Nowadays, I understand, beer doesn't suffice. When visiting my daughter during her days at Bona's during the eighties, her friends, probably because I was paying, urged me to do shots of "Jack" or tequila. Why wasn't a glass of beer enough, I wondered … and then coughed up the dough for a line of shots.
In my days, the hangouts were mostly in Olean, places long gone called The Olean House, the Brown Bear, Stravino's and the Ashes, which emulated its name by burning to the ground several years after I graduated. The only drinking establishment in Allegany was, you guessed it, The Burton, where I spent many an afternoon watching sporting events.
Our drinking centered mostly on watching sports or playing cards. I don't recall going out just to party, although others I knew did. But then again, things were much different then. Read much stricter. Friars lived on each dorm floor and kept watch if you came home beyond curfew (yes, I said curfew) or arrived in somewhat of an inebriated state.
Dean of the Russell J. Jandoli School of
Journalism and Mass Communication
Many things have changed since my days at St. Bonaventure from 1960 to 1964.
There are more buildings, many more.
Women live on campus and outnumber the males in the classrooms. Far more lay professors and far fewer friars do the teaching.
But one thing has remained constant - Bonaventure's reputation as a party school. In fact, a prospective student told me recently he was leaning against attending Bona's because he heard it was a party school. I told him all universities and colleges were party schools ... if you want them to be.
Let me be honest. I imbibed in alcohol during my stint as an undergraduate in the then journalism department. But, let me add a caveat - the legal drinking age then was 18. And I can't remember drinking anything but beer while at Bona's. And I never drank so much I passed out or had to seek medical attention. Some did, to be sure, but the cases of "binge" drinking, a term unknown to us then, were far and few between.
Nowadays, I understand, beer doesn't suffice. When visiting my daughter during her days at Bona's during the eighties, her friends, probably because I was paying, urged me to do shots of "Jack" or tequila. Why wasn't a glass of beer enough, I wondered … and then coughed up the dough for a line of shots.
In my days, the hangouts were mostly in Olean, places long gone called The Olean House, the Brown Bear, Stravino's and the Ashes, which emulated its name by burning to the ground several years after I graduated. The only drinking establishment in Allegany was, you guessed it, The Burton, where I spent many an afternoon watching sporting events.
Our drinking centered mostly on watching sports or playing cards. I don't recall going out just to party, although others I knew did. But then again, things were much different then. Read much stricter. Friars lived on each dorm floor and kept watch if you came home beyond curfew (yes, I said curfew) or arrived in somewhat of an inebriated state.
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