Bypassing the Green Beer Day tradition

Hannah Meyer sits at her desk in Etheridge Hall, laboriously typing up the final draft of her English paper due at the end of the week. It's Thursday, March 21, and the dorm is unusually quiet for this time of night, when most people begin celebrating the start of the weekend or get together in the lounge to work on homework for Friday classes.

The reason for the emptiness of the corridor is quite simple -- it's Green Beer Day, and most students are out partying and drinking, not likely to return for many hours more. For some students, however, Green Beer Day holds no merit.

Meyer, a sophomore English literature and strategic communication major, is one of many students who choose not to take part in the festivities.

"I just don't have the time for it, or the energy," Meyer said. "I had a paper due on Friday."

Meyer said that although she puts school first and chooses not to drink, she doesn't have a problem with the holiday itself.

"I wouldn't say it's the best holiday, but I also wouldn't get rid of it," she said. "I think it's a tradition, and Miami holds onto their traditions like no other."

Morgan Eakin, a sophomore East Asian language and culture major, also explained why she chose not to drink on Green Beer Day.

"I just don't drink in general," Eakin said. "I also had a lot going on on Green Beer Day, so it was the last thing I should have been doing, and right before spring break? It would've just been a pain."

Eakin revealed that she attended three classes that day, including her Chinese 302 class where she had to perform a skit in Chinese. Her classes were all about half-full -- a noticable difference from the regular attendance rate.

"I get the appeal, and I get why it's a tradition and all that, but I think [students] take it too seriously," Eakin said. "But I'm also not here to stop anyone's fun."

Unlike Meyer and Eakin, Hailey Kingsbury, a sophomore speech pathology and audiology major, expressed a difference in opinion about Green Beer Day.

"I don't think we should have Green Beer Day," Kingsbury said. "There's just so many drinking issues that we've had, and I feel it creates a very dangerous atmosphere, and it puts a lot more on the Miami staff and faculty to really make sure that students are safe."

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Kingsbury, who chooses not to drink because of her religious beliefs and because she is underage, believes that it's important for students to surround themselves with a reliable group of friends that support each other.

"While some of my friends do drink, I've never felt pressured by them because they do respect my decision," she said.

thomspssh@miamioh.edu