Ohio University can now add another accomplishment to its list: slowly losing the reputation as the biggest party school in the country.
The Princeton Review released its 2013 list of the top party schools in the nation Monday and OU is no longer within the top five. The university is currently seeded seventh after slowly declining from its rank as the No. 1 biggest party school in 2011 and slipping down to third in 2012. The University of Iowa was deemed the biggest party school for 2013, according to The Plain Dealer.
OU’s Vice President for Student Affairs Ryan Lombardi said he believes there were several initiatives that contributed to the decline in the party school image. Such efforts included partnering with the city of Athens in the “Be Smart, Be Safe, Be Civil” campaign as well as the funding about $80,000 in alcohol alternative programming from conduct fees, according to a previous Post article.
“As a result of these efforts, we have seen a positive trend in the behavior of Ohio University students,” Lombardi said.
That trend includes an 18 percent decline of self-reported high risk drinking behavior among students since 2007, as well as the seven percent decrease in high risk behavior during the 2012-13 school year, according to a previous Post article.
Lombardi also stated that there were 1,338 alcohol-related violations in 2012-13, which was a 44 percent decrease in violations since 2005-06 where there were 2,365 violations involving alcohol.
“Furthermore, the academic excellence of Ohio University continues to be recognized nationally and internationally,” he said.
A record-breaking 20,000 students applied to the university in 2013, indicating an increase of 3,000 more applications than previous years, Lombardi said.
Some OU students are also enjoying the lessening reputation. Sophia Borghese, a junior studying retail merchandising and fashion product development, said that the party school reputation often caused other people to “judge her.”
“When I told my friends from high school where I was going to college, they seemed to think that all I wanted to do was get wasted every night and that is not the case,” Borghese said.
Alicia Fravel, a sophomore studying English, said that the drop in ranking will hopefully help relieve some of the stigma surrounding OU’s reputation.
“There are so many wonderful things about OU that people don't see because they are only thinking about that party ranking,” Fravel said. "I feel like that is an image that attracts people to our campus for the wrong reasons.”
2013-14 Top 20 Biggest Party Schools
1. University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa
2. University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, Calif.
3. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Ill.
4. West Virginia University, Morgantown W.V.
5. Syracuse University, Syracuse, N.Y.
6. University of Florida, Gainesville, Fla.
7. Ohio University, Athens, Ohio
8. University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wis.
9. Penn State University, University Park, Pa.
10. Lehigh University, Bethlehem, Pa.
11. University of Georgia, Athens, Ga.
12. Florida State University, Tallahassee, Fla.
13. DePauw University, Greencastle, Ind.
14. University of Mississippi, University, Miss.
15. University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas
16. Miami University of Ohio, Oxford, Ohio
17. University of Maryland, College Park, Md.
18. Tulane University, New Orleans, La.
19. University of Vermont, Burlington, Vt.
20. University of Oregon, Eugene, Ore.
Source* The Princeton Review
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