School-funded drinking? It worked for Chile

Last Friday, I went with some friends to a party on the beach. No, I didn't attend an MTV sponsored party of debauchery in Cancun, Mexico. I went on an annual start of the semester event sponsored by my Jesuit university in Santiago, Chile, where I am studying abroad. Other than that difference in sponsors, you may think I was in Cancun.

A series of about 20 buses escorted us students to a beautiful beach in a small town about an hour and a half outside of the city. The all day marathon of drinking began on the bus ride. It is one thing to discretely take sips of alcohol and another to light up cigarettes on the bus, which nearly everyone did and drank very non-discretely.

The scene could not have been better; vibrant blue green water with music and a stage on one end of the beach and porter-johns lined up at the other. Though the water was cool and tempting, no one got in. Men in black and lifeguards in red were ready to enforce that fact.

As soon as we pulled into the area my friend and I realized that this would never happen in the United States. Think of the liability issues! All day heavy drinking on a beach with water that students could potentially drown in. That'd never fly.

One of the first reasons why this would never happen at our college, or any other American one, is the obvious difference in drinking ages; it is 18 to drink here. It may be possible to make it similar to a "Senior 50s" because of our 21 and over law, but certainly would not be open to the whole school like Friday's event was. Even if the encouraging under-aged drinking argument was thrown out, there is still that of encouraging binge drinking. I could easily see organizations like MADD and SADD all over that event.

Then there is the issue of the alcohol containers themselves. Most alcohol comes in glass bottles; pisco (basically the national liqueur), 40 ounce bottles of beer, vodka. Glass around drunk people is like glass around children; it's an accident waiting to happen. They could be easily broken and cut someone accidentally or purposefully in a drunken brawl.

No one, much less a university in the States would want to be responsible for possible under-aged drinking, obvious binge-drinking or young people getting injured with broken glass from their alcohol.

Not to mention the issue with the trash left after the party. Once the music stopped and the buses began to leave, it was clear to see how big and consequential the university's party was. Several hundred people leave a lot of trash behind. When I started to wonder who would help clean it up and what would happen to all those plastic bottles of Coca-Cola and glass bottles of pisco, I saw several locals recovering plastic bottles from the mess. The act of collecting of bottles for the change they are worth when returned to the store is more common here in Chile than what I have seen in the States. Those locals, I'm sure, make a bit of a difference with the mess but what about the rest?

All of the potential mess from parties of that size would make environ-mentalists very nervous and could even have them prevent the event. I have to admit they have a point. That amount of trash in such a small amount of space would not be allowed on a shore of the Chesapeake Bay or the Inner Harbor.

Is it because our opinions about littering are different than those of Chileans? I would be careful to say that because downtown Santiago is no dirtier than downtown Baltimore or Washington, D.C. I would even say that there are more workers trying to keep the streets of Santiago clean than there are in Baltimore or D.C.

With all these reasons against a university throwing this sort of party, why is it a common event in Santiago? There are a few reasons.

One reason why Chilean universities may do this is the obvious reason of raising funds for the school. Each ticket for this day at the beach was about four dollars. There about a thousand people attending. That's $4,000 or about 2,000,000 Chilean pesos.

Also, the way that universities are advertised here are distinct from those in the U.S. I get the clear feeling that almost all offer the same majors, or careers here, but the big difference is how many pretty people or guys with dreads they can muster. There is a definite "coolness" factor to the ads for universities. Meanwhile, our colleges and universities sell their prestige, history and low admissions rates. Clearly if you have a school that annually throws a party on a beautiful beach complete with live band on stage, that university's "coolness" factor goes up. This is a relatively recent school tradition that began with one of the oldest universities in Chile, Universidad Catolica. Others quickly jumped on the bandwagon.

I can easily understand if this sort of school sponsored event never sees the light of day in the United States, but I think it could be a successful event if thrown. However, sociological and behavioral differences between drunk American youth and drunk Chilean youth can be argued. All in all, I think Friday's beach event was very successful for all involved. Perhaps the only ones coming out of it with less is that beach. I never did see a hired clean-up group.