News, Views and Careers for All of Higher Education
Nov. 18, 2005
It’s not his party, but Bill O’Reilly is crying when he wants to.
On Monday, as part of his Fox News “O’Reilly Factor” show, O’Reilly aired video of a 750-person party at Brown University that ended with around 20 students being taken to the hospital. O’Reilly lambasted the shindig, calling the Brown administrators a bunch of “liberal pinheads” for allowing such behavior on campus.
O’Reilly called the “Sex Power God” party, an annual event sponsored by Brown’s Queer Alliance, a sign of the times on liberal campuses. Colleges “don’t care what these kids do,” he said on his radio show the day after the video aired on his television show. “You wanna’ have sex with 18 people? Go ahead.”
The attention to the party has generated a storm of reaction on campus, both over his assertions about the party — that ecstasy was being used and that organizers used university funds — and his invasion of students’ privacy by filming the event. On Wednesday, the Undergraduate Council of Students passed “A Resolution Calling for Accurate Coverage of the Students of Brown University by The O’Reilly Factor and the Fox News Channel.”
One of O’Reilly’s main points was that, while he doesn’t care what students do on their own time, administrators should not provide money and a building for a party that lands about 20 students in the hospital, and about a dozen more at the university’s health center. His assertion that “direct university funding” was used to throw the party, which sells $10 tickets and draws hordes of semi-nude and costumed partiers, was based on the fact that all Brown students are charged a $136 student activity fee, and that some student activity money is given to the Queer Alliance. “If I’m a kid up there paying $136…I’m a little teed off,” he said on the radio show.
Swathi Bojedla, chair of the Undergraduate Finance Board, said that the board gives the Queer Alliance $800, but that it is earmarked for specific purposes besides the annual party. She added that the only board money the alliance might have used for the party was $50 for photocopying, to make leaflets, but said an alliance leader told her the money was not used for the party. Sixty dollars from a generally available fund for student groups was used to rent a projector from Brown Media Services for the event.
Jesse Waters, the “O’Reilly Factor” producer who bought a ticket to “Sex Power God” online and attended – fully clothed and with a camera – reported seeing “girls falling down drunk, and most were wearing just panties and bras,” reads his account on the show’s Web site. “I went to the bathroom and heard guys having sex in the stall next to me. A record amount of people had to have emergency medical care.”
O’Reilly said on his radio show that, in addition to drunken debauchery, “what they were doing was taking ecstasy … there were kids in trouble.” O’Reilly based the ecstasy claim on “observation from my people there,” he said, when asked on the air about it by Meryl Rothstein, an editor at The Brown Daily Herald who has been covering O’Reilly’s party coverage and was a guest on his show. “I wouldn’t say a lot of ecstasy, but it was around,” he added.
Richard Lapierre, director of Brown University Health Services, wrote in an e-mail that “We have no indications in any of our reports of ecstasy being used by any of our patients that evening. I suspect that Mr. O’Reilly may be going on instinct or his reporter may have witnessed ecstasy ingestion.” Lapierre added that Brown might not know if the hospitalized students used ecstasy because their records would be confidential.
Even before O’Reilly’s prodding, university officials recently became concerned about student safety at parties. The night before “Sex Power God,” shots were fired — not by a Brown student, campus officials said — during an altercation after another party. On Sunday night, following the “Sex Power God” party, David A. Greene, vice president of campus life and student services at Brown, sent an e-mail message to all undergraduates. In it, he referenced both the shots and the hospitalizations from “alcohol and other substances,” and said that he is “directing the Offices of Student Life and Student Activities to work with the Department of Public Safety to review our policies for student organized social events.” Neither of the weekend parties were serving alcohol, but Greene noted “the culture of ‘pre-parties,’ which can lead to serious health consequences,” and Brown students acknowledged that many party-goers showed up to the door drunk.
An editorial in The Herald called for more watchfulness at party entrances, so that dangerously intoxicated students might be turned away.
Rothstein said that, obviously, “it would be better if people didn’t get sick” at parties, but said that many students feel like the O’Reilly has blown a fairly typical college bash out of proportion. “It’s a college campus, and it’s a party,” she said. “You could find an event like this at most schools.”
Based on his radio comments, O’Reilly disagrees. “It doesn’t happen at Bob Jones [University],” he said. O’Reilly made various other comments that burned the ears of Brown students, like mocking the position of Queer Alliance president as something that “would look good on your résumé, wouldn’t it?”
While O’Reilly said that the party was a “hallmark” of liberal, Ivy League institutions, he did say that the party would have been different at Harvard University, where he received a master’s degree in public administration. If Harvard students threw an “orgy,” O’Reilly said, the prevailing attitude would be, “excuse me, I have to finish this book before I jump on the pile.”
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Oh this is rich. Nothing like a semi-elite baiting the non-elites with stories of “partying.” As much as I detest drinking in all its forms, everyone knows that there are parties with booze and naked women at every school in the country, and it is nothing new!
I wonder when he will crash a frat party and talk about the girls that have sex AFTER they are passed out.
Larry, at 7:30 am EST on November 18, 2005
Expecting anything other than bias and bigotry from Bill O’Reilly is like expecting to see reason in ‘intelligent design’. O’Reilly wouldn’t have the courage to go to the party himself, he’d just send along some stooge to film the juicy parts!
As if there isn’t any X or GHB around Fox News ... yeah sure ... but you might have to push aside the scotch bottles and turn on the fans to clear the smoke before you could find ‘drugs’. Yeah, sure ... right, O’Reilly .. fair and balanced? others call it bullshit
Henry Collier, Honorary Fellow at University of Wollongong, at 9:09 am EST on November 18, 2005
Oh right. They didn’t support the party... except through paying for the advertizing, and providing the space, and paying for the projector. Hmm. Oh, right, and they allowed the ads to be put up in addition to paying for them, and allowed all this to happen on their campus.
Granted, what people do is really their business, but it seems a bit off that the school is encouraging this nonsense.
Kevin, Undergraduate, at 10:51 am EST on November 18, 2005
I wonder why he never crashes my parties ? I am a very fun person.
What I think is funny is that a good chunk of these folks that I went to school with at a “liberal” college are baiting people with his rhetoric – even though they, themselves, went to “nude” parties and engaged in various forms of debauchery, themselves.
Larry, at 10:52 am EST on November 18, 2005
I’d be more interested in hearing comments about the actual problem being presented than arguments about the person presenting it. If it were a liberal commentator talking about it, would we then examine the problem?
Assuming that the information is true, should this party have happened? Should the school fund an organization that sponsors a party like this...even fraternities and sororities? Certainly students do a lot of things on their own time, but having the name of an officially recognized student organization associated with such a party changes things, doesn’t it? If not, should it change our perspective?
Let’s have a discussion here. What do you think about the situation?
Gary, at 10:54 am EST on November 18, 2005
Lets take a deep breath ad acknowledge such parties happen at most universities every semester. Greeks, rugby teams, random associations — a university “sponsors” such activities by collecting a whole bunch of bright, boundary-pushing, experimenting and competing young adults in one place.
Further, it’s clear that this party could easily have been a HS party as well — and for all I know, a Middle School party. If we’re displeased with youthful indiscretions, where will we NOT lay blame? FOX sitcoms? Music videos? Suburban parents? Saying this is a result of “liberal"universities just ignores the web of causes and chooses a convenient demon ideologically. It’s silly — but look at the source, a profoundly silly man.
The issues of student risk-taking are inherent and historical in university life. Blaming & exploitation is random and occasional. The people who work with students take these issues seriously and work on a varity of ways to moderate behavior and guide choices — um, just as parents, we try to cope with semi-adult children. It’s neither easy nor certain.
I despise people who stand apart from the daily fray and point fingers. . . censorious, hypocritical and irresponsible. Raising children, mentoring young people, protecting groups of young people — those are life time commitments for many of us.
Mike Sacken, prof of educ at tcu, at 1:21 pm EST on November 18, 2005
> Oh right. They didn’t support the party... except > through paying for the advertizing, and providing the >space, and paying for the projector. Hmm. Oh, right, and >they allowed the ads to be put up in addition to paying >for them, and allowed all this to happen on their >campus. Granted, what people do is really their > business, but it seems a bit off that the school is > encouraging this nonsense.
Several ways in which this is wrong. First of all, the school didn’t pay for the advertising. If you’d actually read the article, you’d know that even funding they did receive that could’ve been used for it was not. There’s a good reason for this — it’s a dry party with $10 tickets that always sells out. There’s no reason they’d ever even need to use the University’s money. Also, the school did not simply provide Sayles Hall (where the party took place) free of charge. The Queer Alliance rented it just like any other group. I suppose they could’ve barred them from doing that, but then the party would’ve been held off campus and it would’ve been exceedingly dangerous for students to get there. I’ll grant you that they did pay for the projector, but it’s not like the entire party hinged on that one projector anyway, and all it did was show random, essentially nonsexual pictures to go along with the music. Besides, other student groups have had the school pay for projectors to display things which most of the body would object to more, like pretty much any Brown College Republicans presentation. This leads me to a more important point.
Of course some people object to Queer Alliance. There are several other groups that people object to that also get university funding. Brown Students for Israel, Anti-Racist Action, Brown College Democrats, Brown College Republicans, ACLU, Amnesty International, College Hill for Christ, Hillel. You name it, and someone probably has a problem with them. Even groups like Brown Gilbert and Sullivan Society have members absolutely devoted to them, and others who simply despise them. The thing is, they all have access to college funding, and they all should. To deny that is to deny the whole philosophy behind a liberal arts education.
Finally, you find it ridiculous that the University allowed the ads which it *didn’t* pay for to be put up? Maybe your summer reading assignment should be the First Ammendment and 1984.
Dan, Undergraduate at Brown University, at 8:10 pm EST on November 18, 2005
There are many issues being presented and commented on, and I hope to be able to address them as a current Brown University student.
Sex Power God is just a party with a shock value name. Just like any other party at campuses across America, students are going to get drunk and are going to do things they will probably regret. At Brown University, it is campus policy to not admit anyone into a party who is obviously intoxicated. However, it is still possible to imbibe massive quantities of alcohol just before entering the party and not appear drunk yet. Many of those who were denied access at the door would have been brought to the EMS van to be treated, raising the numbers on the amount of students being treated for alcohol consumption that night. According to one student EMT working that night, the actual number of students who were in the party and treated by EMS was actually closer to 11. And I’m damn proud of the numbers, be they 11 or 30. It means Brown cares enough about the safety of their students to have Police and EMTs around constantly just in case. It means we have taught our students that even though drinking is bad, making sure you get yourself or your friend to a health care provider if you are getting ill from alcohol is necessary. Most of those people treated that night were just a little drunk and actually well enough to sleep it off on their own, but Brown has taught them it is better to be safe than sorry. I recall an incident about 5 years ago (or longer) at MIT. A young man at a frat party got too inebriated and was left in another room to sleep it off. He ended up dead. Which is better: a high number of EMS calls and no deaths, or a low number of EMS calls and a death or two?
Now onto the issue of funding of the party with student activity fees. Let us put this into perspective. The Queer Alliance received $804 out of a total of $295,833 given out to various student groups this semester. So the QA only got about half as much as the Young Communist League ($1,602), and a tenth of the Underground ($8,038), one of two on campus bars. I’m sure that each person out there can find at least one group on the list of funded groups that they would rather not see their money go towards. But hey, that part of living in a democratic society. Student groups submit a budget, and money is appropriated to groups based on this budget and the voting of the Undergraduate Finance Board. Don’t forget that SPG is a popular dance. Money earned from one year’s dance goes towards financing the next year’s dance. Please don’t confuse funds given to an organization with funds used to put on the dance. Brown University did not fund this dance, profits from previous dances did.
As far as the behavior of the students at the party, I cannot comment on this year’s party since I didn’t attend. I have, however, attended in the past with my friends and roommates. We were fully clothed, completely sober, and we left just as we entered: as virgins. That is because our parents brought us up right and instilled a sense of right vs. wrong. Having seen how little kids dress nowadays — idolizing teen pop stars and dressing in barely-there clothing — seeing girls with essentially bikinis on is not that shocking to me. Yes, there were a few people with truly shocking outfits on, but again, it is nothing worse than what I have seen on television or in the movies.
It is not a university’s job to teach kids about sex. It is the parent’s job. College students are going to have sex, with or without a party. So are high school students living at home. Even elementary and junior high students. My mother teaches at an inner city public junior high and has had students matriculate from the 6th grade already pregnant. I find that much more disturbing than a few students pushing the boundaries in a bathroom stall at a party. If parents can’t keep their 11 year old child from having sex while the child is still living under their roof, how can they expect the university to control their 19 year olds with raging hormones? As a matter of fact, I’d think students would be more likely to engage in sexual acts in the privacy of their dorm rooms over the public floor of a dance party. Does this mean we should ban all dorm rooms? How many incidents of date rape were reported? Sexual harassment? None. With Jesse Waters reporting so much sex going on, it is good to know that it was all consensual. Had a problem come up, there were Brown Police and Security officers around to aid the students.
So I find the issue of the university “promoting” lewd behavior to be ridiculous. Students are going to drink, smoke, do drugs, and have sex whether or not the university allows students to hold this once a semester party. Isn’t it better that this debauchery took place under a watchful eye than with no police or EMTs hanging around? Parties are going to occur whether or not the University allows them to occur on campus. Are people really suggesting that in order to avoid any finger pointing, the University should turn its back on these students? To those opposing the dance at the school, is the life of one or two students worth it to see the party moved off campus? Surly you don’t think that Brown EMS (with its ambulance) and the Brown Police would hang around an off campus, non-University sponsored dance? If Brown was no longer supporting the dance, then organizers would not have to obey the no alcohol rule, and alcohol would have been made available, or at least snuck in. That means the students turned away at the Brown event would be allowed into the “independent” event and would be able to get even more drunk. Jesse Waters claimed that everywhere he looked there were girls falling down drunk at the Brown party. If there really were that many people drunk at the Brown party, I’m sure that at an independent party with no supervision most people would be drunk. I’m also sure that at least one girl would be raped. Especially if the drugs were as rampant as Jesse Waters claimed. Can you imaging the drug use at the independent party with no cops around?
Let us not forget that in less than four years, almost all of these students will be out on their own in the real world. When does the personal responsibility kick in? O’Reilly sounds like an angry father who just found out his daughter went to a dance like Sex Power God. Instead of owning up to the responsibility of not instilling values when it comes to sex, drinking, and drugs, he is getting upset at Brown for holding the event in a secure and managed environment. Brown isn’t even considered a party school. What about schools where parties like SPG occur once a week? Events like this one don’t occur at Bob Jones University because as a whole, the students who attend Bob Jones are brought up differently than those at Brown (and most other colleges for that matter). I’d be willing to bet those students have a stronger sense of self respect and different values than most students. This sense of self and responsibility doesn’t start the moment a freshman steps onto his or her college campus; it happens much sooner in their life. So let us be careful with the finger pointing and judging.
Nicole, What really happened at Brown University, at 8:11 pm EST on November 18, 2005
About reference to “rugby teams” — related problem to sports and drinking:
I wonder if the MSM (or any news outlet) have begun planning their coverage of the nearly-predictable drunken riots after the college football and college basketball championships.
Those drunken riots (about 50% students, rest out-of-towners) have become so predictable, the MSM could start reserving satellite uplink time, right now, for their NCAA Final Four-related riot coverage.
As the alumni from a b-ball powerhouse (ACC) that does NOT have drunken riots (not in our culture), these alcohol-fueled events are a national disgrace, IMHO.
Innocent people (moi) get beer bottles thrown at them, endure tear-gas, and are generally inconvenienced. Police cars are overturned and burned; people get hurt.
If executive management at the college and state level would face up to their responsibilities to this problem, they would protect the locals and just call out The National Guard.
Yes, The National Guard — overwhelming force is the only thing a drunken mob understands. Once you get hit in the head with a beer bottle, you understand — take my word for it.
Unfortunately, calling out The National Guard would require guts, backbone, and foresight, which is sadly lacking in 80% of aforementioned executive management. They are trying to get re-elected, so as not to have to join the regular workforce.
Other notes:
“I wonder when he will crash a frat party and talk about the girls that have sex AFTER they are passed out.”
Gee — left out the athletes, faculty parties, and other stereotypes. Dang.
“O’Reilly .. fair and balanced? others call it bullshit”
Oh, please! Mr. O. is just like the Jane Fonda’s of the world — paid to draw a crowd. Problem is when a particular icon’s “true believers” see their icon attacked, and give themselves wedgies. Solution: ignore them ALL and watch BookTV — give an exam if you have to.
R.A.S., Little fuzz-ball at Big Sports U, at 8:11 pm EST on November 18, 2005
Your all missing the POINT! Bill wishes he could of been at the party. Bill wishes he could be anywhere, but where he’s at. He is a party animal want to be, a polititian want to be, a hollywood star want to be. That’s why he bitches constantly about these subjects. HE’S JEALOUS! He knows all he’s got is what he’s got. He made to the big time. Tabloid journalism that is, with some damn good money. But he’s not happy, and you can see it everyday. Bill is a very miserable human being. That’s why the constant critisism of everybody he wishes he could be. It’s sad in a way. But his behavior and his own mouth put him in his own TRAP! And nows there’s no way out. So he’s cracking slowly. Can’t stand his hypocritcal politics or his phony so-called religous being. But I don’t want to see him in a strait jacket. He needs to get help, before he ends up exactly there.
Linda Valerio, at 7:51 am EST on November 19, 2005
Is alcohol a problem in the U.S.?
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/19...fb9&ei=5094&partner=homepage
Everyone’s heard the story about GWB mano a mano with GHWB about alcohol. Funny, I’ve never heard the same thing about marijuana smokers. But what do I know ..
And about this:
“Your (sic) all missing the POINT! Bill wishes he could of been at the party. Bill wishes he could be anywhere, but where he’s at. He is a party animal want to be .. Tabloid journalism that is, with some damn good money. But he’s not happy, and you can see it everyday. Bill is a very miserable human being. So he’s cracking slowly.”
Whoa! Take a breath, madam. The guy has two small children. Odds are, he’s probably changed, recently. Also, y’know — TV sets DO have off-on switches — hope yours is off.
R.A.S., at 2:04 pm EST on November 19, 2005
I suspect O’Reily is just upset that no one was rubbing anyone else with a falafel.
Kris, heh, at 3:54 pm EST on November 20, 2005
I saw the film on O’Reilly. How embarrassing. How are these rich boys and girls going to show their faces the rest of their lives? All of these pics will haunt them when they go for their big jobs that their daddy’s set up for them. LOL
Jelly, Pack of wild animals, at 1:43 pm EST on November 25, 2005
Why didn’t Bill O’reilly send his undercover camera-wielding snoop to a frat party or a rugby party. These kinds of parties happen on practically every college campus in the nation, and if someone was filming the behavior at any of these gatherings, they could and would capture some of the same kinds of “shocking” footage that O’reilly’s minion did at the Sex, Power, God party. As a former rugby player who attended rugby parties on at least 10 different campuses, I can say that the antics at these gatherings would make the Sex, Power, God party at Brown look like a girl scout jamboree. “O’reilly is liberal-baiting in the worst way, and his selective reporting is the most reprehensible kind of tabloid journalism.
A College Professor, at 6:00 pm EST on November 27, 2005
Jelly, First of all people rarely get “big jobs” that their “daddys” set up for them. People go to graduate school and are recruited because they appear smart (a trick that a “daddy” teaches his kids. Second of all, just because someone shows some skin does not make them immoral. Indeed, I think it would be rather gauche of me to post pictures to the internet (or wherever) that I might have from college (showing skin) of people that later went on to positions of power. Why? Is it because I like them? No. Is it because I am a good person? Maybe. Or maybe it is because I realize that, for better or worse, there is a lot of partying in college, and if everyone who went to a party dressed as a sexy or nude (insert noun) was forbidden from having a decent job, the world would be unemployed.
(And yes, I thought it was bad form when people were trashing Ken Starr for his college activities.)
Larry, at 12:36 pm EST on November 30, 2005
One reason that O’Reilly is ranting about things that go on at college is that most of his audience didn’t go to college (remember the flap with Jon Stewart). It certainly would not be an epiphany for those of us that did to learn that sometimes college students get drunk and act stupid. The second reason this is such an issue for O’Reill’s audience is the name of the party (its got sex and god in it afterall) and the sponsoring group is decidedly not homophobic. Face it, if this same level of conduct was found at a meeting of the He-man Woman Haters Club or the Young Republicans, Bill would have been ranting about the overeaction of the liberal media. With Fox , it’s all spin all the time.
Ray Rodriguez, at 9:25 am EST on December 1, 2005
After reading this article and frolicking the internet for news article on just this information, I thought it right to point out something that many of these college students are saying. I being a recent graduate from a fairly decent party school in Utah (and don’t laugh because we do have them) had his fair share of wild drunken nights of merrymaking and partying.
However the excuse of saying that a party that did get a little out of hand because it’s normal or that every other college has them too is childish and not a valid excuse for the lack of planning the party, behavior by administrators & students, and the role of school funded organizations. If a child says that his/her friends are doing it what are you going to tell them?
I came from a dry campus where we did go to school funded parties drunk, but any notion of sex in the name or at the party would not be tolerated. It sounds like the school did as best a job keeping drunk kids out, but where were the police writing alcohol tickets to minors or bringing them downtown to sober up or throwing people out who were having sex in the bathroom? If it’s a school sponsored event, you can argue that it wasn’t, but the club is given student funds to do other things so there’s an association there, then why didn’t they take more action in policing what was going on inside the party?
And the idea of a “independent” party is what the school should do next time. This absolves all responsibility the school would have. Then it becomes the city police’s responsibility, as it should be, to bust a party like that the moment it starts and write underage drinking tickets, etc. You wouldn’t have more death’s, you’d have more people in jail for underage drinking. You don’t throw a party for your underage children, under the gile of well at least I’m here monitoring the situation. The fact remains it’s still illegal and you could be litigated against if something were to happen at that party, just as I’m sure the school probably will be if there ever was a death or someone got hurt.
However, I do agree with the idea that this shouldn’t be an issue of the group who organized it. This school shouldn’t allow any school funded organization to throw this kind of party again on school grounds and should cut funding to any orgainization who throws a dance that’s sexual in nature. If kids want to have a dance, like a pimp n’ hoe dance or this one, then let them do it on their own turf (i.e. off campus). Get the funding to pay for permits, security, EMT’s, etc. and quite using my tax payer money to hire these people. There’s a line where wild is too wild and when people have to go to the hospital for alcohol poisoning that’s where I draw the line.
Oh and by the way I go to “independent” parties where the promoters pay for all those above listed things. They’re called concerts, legal raves, fund raisers, gala events, whatever and whenever promoters can get the funds for one to pay for music, the venue, security, and mass gathering permits.
Confused Alumni, Not everybodies doing it at Southern Utah University, at 4:25 am EST on December 5, 2006
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WHAT?!!!!
Kids are having SEX and doing DRUGS at COLLEGE?!!! This is news to me! Thank you, Bill O’Reilly, for finally showing me what goes on at these secular liberal satanist institutions of higher education! You won’t see me going to college now! Just like the majority of your viewers.
Paul, at 2:20 pm EST on December 17, 2007