School's out and students are up for a party!
When you think of spring break what comes to mind on university campus?
Girls Gone Wild, Excessive Drinking, Out-of-Control Partying? Well,
it's that time of year. Students are finding themselves with a little
more time on their hands and a wealth of opportunities to spend it on.
We’re going to explore the culture around
university’s party life today. We’ll hear from
students at a variety of schools explain how they navigate their
choices and we’ll travel with a group as it headed out on
spring break to New Orleans.
JESSICA MILNE – English
Major, Wilfred Laurier
University
RAED
ARMALY- History Major, Wilfred Laurier University
ADRIAN
DEGROOT- Commerce Major, McMaster University
BRENDA
SLOMKA- Residence Life Coordinator, Queens University
HEATHER
FITZGERALD- Director of Student Life, University of
Waterloo
Michael Atkinson has been an Assistant Professor in Sociology
at McMaster University since 2003, and is a member of the Institute of
Globalization and the Human Condition at McMaster. He
received his PhD in Sociology from the University of Calgary in 2001,
and taught in the Department of Sociology at the Memorial University of
Newfoundland from 2001-2003.
Atkinson’s teaching and research interests focus on radical
body modification, masculine aesthetics in sports cultures, and
criminal violence in Canadian professional sports. He has conducted
ethnographic research on Canadian political parties, ticket scalpers,
tattoo enthusiasts and Straightedge youth.
Atkinson’s current research projects include the study of
ergogenic supplement use among young, male, recreational athletes,
men’s cosmetic surgery practices, and legal intervention into
professional ice hockey. These nationally funded research efforts are
intended to help Atkinson explore the changing roles of men in Canada,
and the shifting understandings of masculinity in a range of
institutional settings.
Atkinson is author of the book Tattooed:
The Sociogenesis of a Body Art (University of Toronto
Press, 2003), and has published research on the body in diverse
academic journals including
The Canadian Review of Sociology and Anthropology, Sex Roles, Youth
& Society and The International Review of the
Sociology of Sport.
Michael Atkinson was this year's
unanimous choice for the Social Sciences and Humanities Research
Council (SSHRC) Aurora
Prize, which recognizes an outstanding new researcher who is
building a reputation for exciting and original research in the social
sciences or humanities.
Research
Interests Areas:
Qualitative and Historical
Methods; Figurational Sociology; Masculinity; Body Modification; Sports
Violence; Youth
Subcultures.
Michael Atkinson's sociological
interests largely revolve around issues in body modification,
masculinity, and sport deviance. Theoretically, his research explores
the explanatory and descriptive potential of 'figurational sociology'.
His ongoing research projects include qualitative-historical
examinations of the following:
1. Sports violence and
crime. Even though sociologists have critically inspected
a wide-range of rule-breaking behaviours in a diversity of
institutional contexts, few have approached violence occurring in or
around the 'playing field' as worthy of serious investigation. My
research in the sociology sport involves the interrogation of certain
forms of sports-related violence as potentially criminal, and deserving
of closer scrutiny. I am presently involved in qualitative research
efforts on violence in professional/amateur ice hockey in Canada (a
SSHRC funded study with Dr. Kevin Young from the University of
Calgary), terrorism at mega-events such as the Olympics, and animal
abuse in sport settings.
2. Radical body
modification. In this broad area, I am presently working
on two qualitative research projects. These interconnected ventures are
hinged on the analysis of bodies as sites of identity construction and
texts of culture. First, I continue to explore the cultural use of
tattooing in Canada. As social understandings of tattooed flesh are
ever fluctuating, I am attending to the diverse meaning structures
encoded into tattoos by wearers. Second, I am studying more mainstream
forms of cosmetic surgery among males in Canada (SSHRC funded from
2004-2007). While we know much about women's involvement in
cosmetic/plastic surgery, men's experiences 'under the knife' have been
neglected in the sociological literature.
3. Dietary
supplementation and masculinity. This ethnographic
research venutre (undertaken with Dr. Andrew Hathaway from The Centre
for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto) is designed to empirically
inspect if and how men connect the consumption of exercise and health
supplements to the pursuit of masculinity. Building on what Young and
White (1999) refer to as the performance of "dangerous masculinity"
through sport, we are interested in documenting if the pursuit of
masculinity through supplementation leads men to take a series of
calculated risks with their bodies. By attending to Pope et al.'s
(2000) call for empirical investigation of the "gateway hypothesis" in
gym cultures, we also wish to explore whether the consumption of rather
mild exercise supplements leads some men to experiment with more
dangerous and illegal substances like anabolic steroids. We are also
inspecting social policy implications for more a stringent, State-based
control of the distribution of bodybuilding supplements. Although the
products must pass Canadian food and drug safety standards, of scarce
consideration in existing State policy governing them is the role they
potentially play in either: a) the creation of pathways into serious
drug use among weight-trainers; or, b) the promotion of unattainable
male body images in Canada.
Books
Atkinson, M. (2003). Tattooed:
The Sociogenesis of a Body Art. Toronto: The University of
Toronto Press.
Young, K. and Atkinson, M. (under contract). Sports, Deviance, and
Social Control. Champaign: Human Kinetics.
Trinity Western University, located in Langley, B.C. is a
not-for-profit Christian liberal arts university enrolling over 3,300
students this year. With a broad based, liberal arts and sciences
curriculum, the University offers undergraduate degrees in 38 major
areas of study ranging from business, education, and computer science
to biology and nursing, and 14 other graduate degrees including
counseling psychology, theology and administrative leadership
Trinity
Western University students:
Dustin Engel – Second year, Business major, TWU
John Kwon – Fourth year Psychology major, TWU
Leigh Boyle – First year, Communications major, TWU
Rachelle Schellenberg – First year, Psychology major, TWU
Erica Froese – Second year, Communications major, TWU
Jonathan Higgins – Second year, Human Kinetics, TWU
Katy Kaseberg – Third year, Psychology major, TWU
Kendall Grant – First year, Business, TWU
Rebecca Abell – Third year, Human Services, TWU
Amy Marsh – Fourth year, Education major, TWU and co-team
leader
Description
of the Trip By
Leigh Boyle, Communications major, TWU.
On Saturday, February 25, during the 2006 Spring Break, four teams of
twelve from Trinity Western University in Langley, B.C., traveled to
New Orleans, Louisiana, to tangibly meet the needs of victims of
Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Listen Up followed the experience of one
of those team—endearingly known as Louisiana Team
Two—who worked with Samaritan’s Purse,
concentrating their disaster relief efforts on
“mud-outs” and gutting houses still untouched since
the disaster, six months earlier.
Having once been submerged under up to fourteen feet of water, the
possessions and interior of many houses in the Greater New Orleans area
were completely destroyed and are now crawling with mould and toxins.
Dressed in special mould-resistant masks and gear, the TWU was assigned
to a house and tasked with the removal of all the family’s
material possessions from the house. They emptied the house onto the
curb, and then proceeded to strip the house down to the studs, removing
cabinets, flooring, walls, insulation, and ceilings—anything
not part of the basic house structure—in hopes that the house
owners would be able to rebuild.
While their task was physically demanding labour, the TWU team used it
as a way to connect with and minister to the people they met along the
way. In addition to working on houses, the team helped build a
playground in Gretna with the organization, Kids Around the World.
During the evenings, after a hard days’ work, the team
experienced some authentic Louisiana culture, by venturing out to have
dinner with some new friends and to take in some jazz. They even
celebrated Mardi Gras with their hosts, finding that the majority of
the state holiday, is a family-friendly affair.
For the team, it was astounding to see people who had so little, give
so much of their time, resources and love, when the team had come to
serve them. For the team, their Spring Break trip reinforced the
message of Matthew 6:19-21, “Lay not up for yourselves
treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where
thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in
heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do
not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will
your heart be also.”
Student
Testimonials
“The biggest thing I will take with me from the Spring Break
trip is a true portrait of generosity from the people we met as well as
a love of life. It is hard to encounter people who have lost
so much but are still living with a passion for their life and not be
inspired to use my days to the fullest! I thank God for the stretching
he did in my life. It was the unexpected joys that were the
true ones, the unforeseen conversations and relationships that made my
trip more than just a work project.” –Katy Kaseburg, Psychology major,
TWU.
“The opportunity I had this past spring break changed my
life. In retrospect, my experience in New Orleans is one that I will
most certainly never forget. Amidst all the rot and the rubble I saw
God moving in New Orleans. During my stay there, I witnessed people
pulling together to rebuild their lives, as well as to rebuild the
lives of others. And although Hurricane Katrina was a
terrible event that inflicted severe suffering on the people of
Louisiana, it has brought together people from all over North America
who care for their “brothers and sisters” and who
want to make a difference. This event has been an opportunity for
people’s lives to be touched by the Gospel, and for
non-believers to witness the compassion, humbleness, servitude, and
power of faith among those who have come to their
aid.” –Dustin Engel, Business major,
TWU
“The biggest thing I will take away from my experience this
Spring Break is that prayer is really the starting point when reaching
and helping people.” – John Kwon, Psychology major, TWU
“Going to Louisiana was exactly what I needed for my Spring
Break. It wasn’t because it was relaxing or filled
with sight seeing, it was because I was able to help and make
connections with people who blew me away with their culture and
hospitality. Meeting Carlos, Ernie, Juanita, and Steve amazed
me because of their attitudes. They weren’t
negative or bitter about what had happened, but instead they were
looking ahead at restoring the city to what it once was. They
treated the whole team like royalty and felt like they owed us for what
we were doing—but I think they had it all wrong. I learnt so
much from these four individuals that went beyond anything that I could
have given them. They taught me life lessons, like perseverance and
were I should be placing my value. The trip to Louisiana impacted me in
such a way that made me revaluate my life and understand what is really
important in life.” –Rachelle Schellenberg,
Psychology major, TWU.
“I learned that I don't have enough faith. That I can't do
things by myself, I need God. People need God. God does answer
prayer.” –Erica
Froese, Communications major, TWU.
“New Orleans is not about the drunks, Mardi Gras, or the
hurricane. There are real people down there with more problems than
just the fact that they suffered through a hurricane. New Orleans and
the South are struggling spiritually [but]…Every
place has its struggles…New Orleans opens your eyes. It
opened mine. It is when you pay it forward for no reward except the
reward of helping someone else.” – Erica Froese, Communications
major, TWU
Team
BIOS
Keela
Keeping
Keela Keeping is a media and communications specialist for Trinity
Western University, as well as a writer, publicist and freelance
journalist in Greater Vancouver, B.C. A former president of
Toastmaster, Keela’s communications interests include
television production, reporting, creative concepts and interfacing
with social justice issues. Keela lives in Langley, B.C.
Ernie
Demma
Officer Ernie Demma is Captain of the Police Academy of New Orleans. He
was assigned to the Superdome during the Hurricane Katrina Evacuation,
and as result, his grandchildren were also there during the ordeal.
Ernie’s house—as well as the house of his
daughter—was stuck underwater as result of Hurricanes. While
diligently working non-stop since the crisis in an effort to get the
city back to functioning capacity, Ernie has had to leave his house
virtually untouched and uninhabitable. The TWU team was able to fully
gut the police captain’s daughter’s house, which is
right next door to his own house. Ernie has been living in a trailer
parked between the two homes since the disaster.
Rebecca
Abell, 20, of Bainbridge Island, Washington, is a third
year human services student at TWU. Her interests include skiing,
traveling, photography and mission trips. When she’s done at
TWU she hopes to pursue a master’s in Journalism or Social
work and work with a human rights organization overseas.
Dustin
Arthur Engel, 20, of Calgary, Alberta, is a second year
business student at TWU. His interests include music, drums and
European history. While he doesn’t know what life after TWU
will hold for him, for right now, his is simply learning to rely on
Christ alone for happiness in whatever he pursues.
Erica
Froese, 21, of Boissevain, Manitoba, is a second year
communications student at TWU. Her interests include traveling the
world, disaster relief, media, writing, scrapbooking, skiing and
nannying. Once she graduates, Erica will stop home for a few months and
then move to either New Orleans or to Thailand to work with a missions
agency.
Kendall
Grant, 18, of Millet, Alberta, is a first year business
student at TWU. His interests include marketing and finance,
entrepreneurship, law, classic literature snowboarding, water/slalom
skiing, wakeboarding, reading and hanging out with friends. Once
graduated, Kendall will likely pursue graduate studies in either
business or law and raise a family.
Katy
Jane Kaseburg, 21, of Bellevue, Washington, is a third
year, psychology student at TWU.
Her interests include boating, wakeboarding (anything on the water),
swing dancing, reading, life, people, and of course, laughter. After
graduation she hopes to obtain a master’s in counselling and
subsequently work in the field. Possible stops along the way include:
teaching English in Tibet or Japan and working in the human services
field. Her greatest ambition? To be a mother.
John
Kwon, 21, of Vancouver, B.C., is a fourth year psychology
student at TWU. His interests include music, guitar, singing, reading,
photography, cooking, photography, cultural studies, and teaching
languages. Upon graduation, John hopes to pursue further education and
hopes to work in pastoral care and other people-helping professions.
Amy
Marsh, 21, of Corbett, Oregon, is a fourth year, education
student at TWU and was co-leader of Louisiana Team Two. Her interests
include photography, music, basketball, soccer, art, hiking, People,
education, math, linguistics, and nature. Once she graduates
in April, she hopes to go overseas and teach English for at least a
year. She may then return to North America and teach math.
Rachelle
Schellenberg, 20, of Abbotsford, B.C., is a first year
psychology major at TWU. Her Hobbies include going for coffee, singing,
laughing, going for walks/hikes and dying hair. Rachelle’s
future plans are to become a counselor who deals with adolescents
struggling with substance abuse. She hopes to own her own practice and
to turn it into a career and counseling center so she can not only
offer guidance to teens, but also help them find jobs and fulfill their
career goals. She also wants to travel the world, see the sights and
enjoy different cultures.
As we looked at today’s topic of the messages being
sent in party culture, I kept thinking about the wise teacher who was
criticized for hanging out at parties -
Jesus. Jesus was the
teacher who warned that there will be a thief looking to steal your
happiness. Jesus countered that his way was a better life
than we
could ever have dreamed of – John 10:10.
Finding Jesus and his way in
the party… food for thought at this
week’s look at the spiritual side
behind spring break.
COMMENTARY
CORNER: Students,
Spring Break and Consuming Fun
By Michael Atkinson, PhD,
Department of Sociology, McMaster University
Each
spring, university (and increasingly, high school) students make a
pilgrimage to a sunny, southern destination. Dubbed by many of them as
a collective “rite of passage”, or simply a
much-needed break from the
cold northern climate, the spring break ritual has become as much a
part of the expected university experience as frosh week, midterms,
large classes, late nights cramming, or graduation. On its
face, a
week away from the rigors of university and the confines of their local
environments is ideal for students, and relatively unproblematic for
parents. Despite common suggestions by students that “nothing
really
happens” on vacation, though, those well-versed in
social practice of
partying during spring break – officially termed
“reading week” by many
Canadian universities – often emerges as one week of
saturnalia for
them where binge-drinking, promiscuity and drug experimentation is
lauded as vacation.
For the most part, spring break party
activities are taken-for-granted by many students, parents, university
instructors and institutional administrators. Travel agents either work
on or near university campuses, vacation tours are organized through
schools, and advertisements for “getaway” packages
abound in student
centres. While a university is in no position to regulate the behaviour
of students off-campus (nor should it be), the place or meaning of
spring break within the university system is rarely scrutinized by
anyone. Hard questions regarding the tradition of spring break partying
are rarely asked, nor are alternatives to spring break party activities
typically promoted by students, parents, social leaders or others in
the university. Reflective of the current culture of individualism and
unfettered freedom of choice in our country and in most free-market and
democratic nations, the contemporary feeling is that student decisions
about break are simply theirs to make and we should not impair their
vacation choices as adults. We augment this laissez-faire system of
vacationing by turning a blind eye to the dangers and risks of
collective partying among the thousands of students who gather in
southern hot spots, and fail to ever believe something could happen to
our children while away.
If considered a “rite of passage”, we
must ask what spring break in its “party” form
actually achieves for
the individual student. Stated differently, rites of passage are
usually employed within cultures or subcultures as a means of
illustrating a person’s maturation and self-development
within a group.
What is, then, the character-building process of the spring break party
“rite”? If we are honest about the garden-variety
spring break junket,
the answer is nothing. Fun, yes; but a rite of passage, no.
Let’s
remember that the break is traditionally afforded to students as a tool
for catching up with schoolwork and making progress toward the
development of term assignments. Most undergraduates quickly learn that
the break, falling somewhere around the mid-point of the second
academic term, is surrounded on both sides by tests, papers,
presentations, readings, and other course assignments. Anecdotes from
university professors suggest that rather than returning from break
well prepared, reinvigorated and refreshed, their students are
generally more behind than before, exhausted, and in need of another
break just to catch up from their vacation. In this process,
student
requests for assignment deferrals, extensions and make-ups are on the
rise, while grades are on the decline.
But where does this
come from? Why are many, but clearly not all, university students
actually encouraged to make poor choices about their break
time? What
context have we created that actually encourages a “party
break” rather
than a break categorised by work, study, relaxation or some other
activity?
Importantly, we must first recognize that the
current generation of first and second year students in our
universities is not the same as those in previous generations. The
“millennial students”, as they are often called,
are a generation for
whom much has been afforded and little asked in return. They are a
culture of relative “haves” by comparison to
previous generations;
routinely dubbed a leisure culture of students with a noticeable taste
for free time over study time. Many cultural critics have
suggested
that adolescence is now pushed back into the mid-twenties, with more
children still living in their parents’ homes, relying on
parent
subsidization for school, and allowing their parents to act as their
lobbyists in both school and work contexts. Many first-year
course
instructors can tell you stories, in fact, of having recent telephone
or one-on-one conversations with irate parents regarding their
child’s
progress in a course. Practically unheard of until the last few years,
professors are increasingly finding cause to speak with parents who
“take care of” their son’s or
daughter’s problems in a class.
We
must also remember that first-year students are younger (entering into
university around 17 years of age, without many maturing life
experiences under their belts), and yet much more rights-oriented in
their education mentalities. With increasing rates of tuition in the
country, and their own economic experiences in workplace (indeed, far
too many of our students have to work to help pay for university, or
become mired in student debt), they come to view the education process
as a pay-per-use system. As a result, they often feel the right to come
and go as they please, or do the work or not since they are (or their
parents are) paying for these rights rather dearly.
The
consumer orientation runs even deeper, though, as it permeates much of
our youth’s collective orientation toward their own bodies.
Youth
generations are principally targeted by food companies, alcohol
producers, cigarette manufacturers, clothing designers, and others in
the “body industries” as chief consumers of
commercial goods. From an
early age, youth are encouraged to associate fun, socialization,
belonging, and a sense of self with what one has or is able to
purchase. Thus, being able to go on spring break and literally consume
fun through drinking and partying is a form of “social
capital” for
youth; or in other terms, it is like a form of currency in a youth
culture that defines a sense of self and social belonging through
consumptive practices. For some university students, while the sun felt
warm, the music was great, the late nights were exciting and the
freedom from responsibility completely thrilling, it is the sheer
ability to say that I was able to go away to an exotic locale and hang
out with my friends which has the most currency in student culture. And
if this is true, are we really surprised to hear that some students
spend thousands of dollars on a break just to party with many of the
same friends they do on regular basis in their own universities?
But
the university context also fails the student dearly in promoting safe
or socially alternative spring break activities – and it
begins with
the ways in which students are socialized on campus from their very
first days on site. While the age and maturity level of the average
student entering university appears to have shifted (as it has across
our culture and institutions), universities have not really responded
in kind by adjusting how student life is influenced on campus. One
might argue that the current generation of student is not encouraged to
be mature in their decision-making about school, study or work. Bars
and student nightclubs continue to be central features on campus and
are highlighted as key socialization places. Dormitories, while
regulated by students, are often framed as party contexts. Increased
student access to them, coupled with the boom in student housing
available within walking distance to universities, creates a
high-density student environment around universities – often
leading to
a spike in party activity at a school. In their first weeks of
university life, students are given access to credit cards and have
their meals planned and paid for by the university (through tuition).
Students learn rather quickly that no one will
“miss” them in large
classes if they do not attend, and that the university library, campus
centre (filled with fast food restaurants), or dorms are far more fun
places to hang out than a classroom. Wireless Internet hot spots on
campus make it easy to spend the day virtual-chatting on MSN messenger
with friends rather than attending lectures, and on-line course
delivery (where students can access their professors’ course
notes
through the Web) often do not encourage consistent
attendance.
Given
all of the above, it is strange that we collectively scratch our heads
from time-to-time and ask why students go away to party on spring
break. The answer is simple: they are doing precisely what we encourage
them to do as part of a student/youth lifestyle. Youth is often a
period categorized by self-centered hedonism and self-absorption, and
we must ask if we encourage our youth to break from this trend enough.
Although a very unpopular thought, it seems that more students are
using university as a “time out” from adult life,
or as context for
buying more time until they figure out a career path. In the effort to
attract these students to our schools and secure their tuition money,
we create homes away from homes on our campuses to make them feel more
comfortable. In the process, spring break partying may be yet
another
instance of how feeling good about your university experience and the
measure of satisfaction one attributes to a school year is aligned with
how much one was “able to get away with” while no
one was looking.
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