A dumb question from an old man

[ffejfalcon]

What? No East Merry madness anymore?

Very sad...........

I remeber one year duing East Mery madness there was a box car left on the tracks. Tons of students were partying on top and inside of it. A group was trying to push it along but didn't get very far. Cops eventually showed up and everyone scattered big time. Wish I had some pictures because it was quite the site.

[BGFan]

Yeah... we go a full ten weeks (11 including exams) w/o any kind of breaks. I never have minded much, but I can see how it would affect some students. I believe we get one day off per quarter too. I like it though. We're back from Thanksgiving til New Years so I really can't complain there.


(I'm at Ohio U. for those who don't know. One of the few still on quarter systems)

Not to sound uncaring, but if a student can't handle a few weeks of school in a row how are they going to handle life after school when they'll get 1 week of vacation the first year and two weeks per year for the next four years? (This may have changed in recent years but that was the norm at most employers.) College is supposed to prepare you for life....getting a break every few weeks doesn't do that. A lot of you will be in for a very rude awakening after graduation. The students I admire the most are holding down a job while going to school and, in one form or another, are paying for their own education. They're the ones who will be truly prepared when they graduate because when they land the job that they've been preparing for it will seem like more of a relief than a shock when reality slaps them in the face.

[JohnnySwoop '85]

Fall Break...a 4 day weekend!! Too me that sounds like license to PPPPAAARRRRTTTYYYYYYY!!!

"Cool down from the stress of mid term exams" - Flicc

Oh come on now ...and we all walked through the same snow and wind as you do. If you think that BG mid terms is stressful try the 'Perfect Storm' of work, grad school, marriage, a mortgage, and kids arriving on the scene. The solution is simple, it's like running a Belly 2 Wedge...you put your head down and plow through it.

[Rightupinthere]

What? No East Merry madness anymore?

Very sad...........

I remeber one year duing East Mery madness there was a box car left on the tracks. Tons of students were partying on top and inside of it. A group was trying to push it along but didn't get very far. Cops eventually showed up and everyone scattered big time. Wish I had some pictures because it was quite the site.

The U, police, and city banned together to destroy the traditional E Merry Madness.
They finally succeeded around '92 or so. It did start to get out of hand around the late 80's and early 90's. Mad for some good blotter bits, however.

[FliccGirl]

Fall Break...a 4 day weekend!! Too me that sounds like license to PPPPAAARRRRTTTYYYYYYY!!!

"Cool down from the stress of mid term exams" - Flicc

Oh come on now ...and we all walked through the same snow and wind as you do. If you think that BG mid terms is stressful try the 'Perfect Storm' of work, grad school, marriage, a mortgage, and kids arriving on the scene. The solution is simple, it's like running a Belly 2 Wedge...you put your head down and plow through it.

Obviously I know BG midterms aren't the hardest thing in the world. Heck, I took 20 credits a semester for two years straight (including Organic Chemistry) and handled it all right-- and I'm headed to med school next year, so I would hope I could handle stress.

I just don't see why the idea of a two-day Fall Break is so dreadful. *shrugs*

[1987alum]

I just don't see why the idea of a two-day Fall Break is so dreadful. *shrugs*

Good point.

[Rollo83]

Rollo83- I am taking a stab here, but the 83 could mean you graduated in 1983. Assuming that, that is the case, then you would have had better breaks than the haus...like Merry Madness as it escalated to its hights in 1985 and ended by 88-89. If memory serves the 85 -87 parties found students as far away as Univ Georgia in attendance. Those Breaks were notable. But one must question the 3 days of recovery after.

Bingo MACMAN. I do remember Manville Madness in all its glory...taking furniture from the front porch and burning it in the middle of Manville...20-keg parties...ah the memories!

[Rollo83]

Does anyone rmember the small plane that flew into the Frazze aprtements behind Offenhower? Luckily nobody was killed.

[JohnnySwoop '85]

Actually I thought some people did die in that. If I remember correctly it was Beta 500 weekend.

A fall break isn't a big deal, we're just jealous we didn't get one too!

[UK Peregrine]

Yeah, I'm pretty sure all of the occupants of the plane died. Tech gave a good account of what happened back in '82 somewhere on AZZ. I'll try to search for it later, if he doesn't already relate the story.

[Rollo83]

Sorry, but I meant nobody in the apartment complex died. I assumed the occupants of the plane parished. Its was in the Spring, I remember that.

[UK Peregrine]

Found it! Here is Tech's post that recalled the crash.

Which brings me to remember the Spring of 1982 - BG had a fire in an off-campus apartment building about 2 blocks north of Offenhauer. It was caused by a small plane crashing into the building. Luckily, it was the day of the Beta 500 and there were only a few students in the building. No residents were hurt, but all aboard the plane perished (I think they were mostly BG students). One student was in the shower at the time when the plane came crashing into his unit.

Here is the kicker. They were flying to OSU. The pilot submited his flight plan including passengers and baggage. They were overweight and were refused permissiion to take-off. They were originally going to fly out of Tifffen (I think) So several students got off the plane (as to reduce the weight) and drove to BG, where the rest of the group flew to pick them up.

They thought this would get them past the flight restrictions - it did. So now with everyone aboard in BG, they begin to take-off (overweight again), the plane couldn't clear the power lines and tumbles into the apartment building. The building goes up in flames.

It was chaos - my girlfriend (now wife) lived on East Merry Avenue, diagonal from the plane wreck/fire and we came back from doing our laundry to find the area filled with smoke, emergency vehicles, students and so on. It was unbelievable. After the report came out that the pilot caused the wreck (and subsequent fire), many students were pretty disgusted with the incident. How could he be so foolish and risk the lives of his friends.

[Falconfreak90]

What? No East Merry madness anymore?

Very sad...........

I remeber one year duing East Mery madness there was a box car left on the tracks. Tons of students were partying on top and inside of it. A group was trying to push it along but didn't get very far. Cops eventually showed up and everyone scattered big time. Wish I had some pictures because it was quite the site.

I was there!! I lived on E Merry my Senior year (1989-90). It was the red brick apt building right by the huge pine tree. I still have the sweatshirt my friend designed for the whole deal. Complete with boxcar and banshees on top. LOL! In my drunken state, I stayed some distance away and just watched these people push that thing down the tracks.

What a trip that was....

[Schadenfreude]

They finally succeeded around '92 or so. It did start to get out of hand around the late 80's and early 90's. Mad for some good blotter bits, however.

Bits?

In '89 or '90 ('90, I think) -- it was more kilobytes: Something like 130 arrests and probably that many kegs confiscated. That was beginning of the end.

I forget if all that actually ended up in the blotter. If it had, the blotter would have run close to a page.

Many of the charges were later dropped because of Sixth Amendment issues.

[RobbyFalcon]

I didn't mean the notion of a Fall Break was dumb, I suggested my question was dumb because I was sure the answer was obvious to many people here.

If y'all wanna break twice in the fall, that's cool with me. I'll just say this, maybe I was a goob, but I always had more fun hanging in BG than I did back home. I remember being shocked, yes shocked, in 1986 when after paying three bucks for pitcher after pitcher of Bud at BG, a bar in Fairfield, OH had the nerve to ask for $5.50!!! Of course a pitcher of Little Kings at Howard's was like $1.50 but then I walked barefoot uphill both ways to class.