RIP fountain day?

i do recognize that i sound a little dramatic, but this is the only thing that's occupying me right now. it's not the end of the world.

earlier today, i was writing a blog about the top 10 reasons why i love SUNY albany in hopes of boosting our morale after the school-wide disappointment of the events of kegs and eggs weekend.  well, ironically, while i was writing this blog, i got an email and extensive facebook status updates about the cancellation of fountain day.  there have been rumors since last weekend that fountain day was questionable, but we were all ensured that the president would not cancel a school tradition for the actions of 40/+16,000 students.  right?   wrong.  fountain day 2011 has been cancelled.

1. after years of catholic schooling and consistently having traditional, fun events threatened by misbehavior, i can tell you, threats do not work.  we will still act the way we are used to acting (in this scenario, getting drunk).

2. like i said, it is a tradition. fountain day unites the school.  the fountain is the center of our university, literally and figuratively.  it's even on our SUNY ID cards.  it is very important for a school to provide us with events that we can look forward to and hold pride in.  something that identifies us.  after the school-wide disappointment and shame after kegs and eggs 2011, we desperately need a fun event to unite us again.  to pick our heads up and say "this is my school, i love it here. look at this great event"

3. because this event is taken away, i am not only disgusted with the .2% of students here, but now also with the administration for doubting us.  it's insulting.  i understand kegs and eggs was representative of the school, but the shame enough is to punish us. anyone with a sense of pride should of been embarrassed by the president's email sent last week ridiculing our behavior. individuals should be penalized. penalizing an entire university will have it's repercussions for the university and for us.  what happens when you piss off 18,000 students between 18 and 22 years old?

4. a school's best publicity is from its students, not by fox news, not by princeton review, or youtube.  in order to be best publicized, the student body must remain happy.  the "suspension" of fountain day has angered and annoyed the student body, whereas before this, any student was willing to stand up for the school after kegs and eggs.  now that the students are angry, it is very hard to find reason to stand up for the school.

5. "suspending" fountain day is a symbol.  our pride has been suspended.  (personally, i think the major program cuts is just as much as bad as this, but obviously we care more about having fun than OUR education).  but, how long will our pride be suspended? what will it take to restore it?  a downtown clean-up? degrading emails? facebook events?  fountain day?  tosh.0?!

i beg the president to reconsider his decision. i think this decision has far more repercussions that any of us may be expecting.