Where da party at? Who cares?

Sometimes, it feels like the party's always going on at IU. Our fair University has been ranked No. 4 Party School in the nation by Playboy, and No. 6 Party School by the Princeton Review, leading some to ask whether these rankings affect IU negatively, positively, or at all. \nLet us say that, proud as we are to be recognized for our festive achievements, we are more than a little skeptical of methods used to determine party rankings. If people scrutinize rankings for law schools and financial aid, how questionable must these rankings be? Do such publications just send boozehound scouts to investigate the goings-on?\nIf they come on Little 500 weekend, when an unending outdoor soiree extends late into the night, the party scene would surely feel a bit different than coming on a cold night in early December. Such rankings are highly subjective and apparently conducted through survey questions -- the Princeton Review uses a "combination of survey questions concerning the use of alcohol and drugs, hours of study each day, and the popularity of the Greek system" -- leading us to question the study's validity. It seems, then, that a group of particularly emphatic students could tip the balance in one school's favor fairly easily without even knowing it. \nFurthermore, what's the point of ranking party schools at all? After you get past number one, doesn't it just get really lame? "We're Number Four!" doesn't quite have the exclamatory zest necessary for a game of Sink the Biz or the back of a T-shirt. "Top Ten Party School" reeks of exactly the skewed process of data-examination that makes such rankings foolhardy in the first place.\nRegardless of any ranking's authority on partying, it's kind of hard to get worked up about a one day news story that projects just one piece of what IU represents. We party with gusto, to be sure, but partying does not represent the only facet of IU life, unless it's the only facet you want to pursue. Whatever pride this unreliable ranking may bestow upon us students, partying was probably not the reason most of us came to college. \nWe came to meet new people, to gain a sense of direction in life, and in some scattered cases, to learn something in our classes. Party school status hopefully had a very small role in students' decisions to attend IU. Bloomington provides all varieties of diversions for us even without a party every night. Look, we're not denying the allure of party culture -- the members of the editorial board are students, too -- but it would be foolish to lend it any significance greater than being a subject of belligerent drunken pride for IU students.