If your whole personality revolves around getting freshman drunk, you’re sad.

North Dakota State University seems to be infamous for two things: football and party culture. At its best these two things can bring together very different segments of the student population. However, when it comes to party culture at NDSU there’s a dark and depressing corner people seem to accept: the depressing nature of throwing a house party.

As freshman slowly find their way around campus, they not only hear about house parties, but are actively encouraged to go to them. While on campus early I witnessed freshmen females being approached by groups of boys passing on addressed. During the Welcome Rally, I watched as a group of drunken idiots, who could not have been less than seniors, tried to encourage girls to separate from their friends and go back to their house.

There are those who live off-campus who spend every weekend scouring Snapchat and texting strangers trying to fill their house with drunk teenagers only to get shut down by the police in fifteen minutes. 

The truth is that if your whole social life revolves around a culture of intoxication, stupidity, and a general lack of cleanliness (these houses are disgusting) then your life is pretty sad. 

NDSU is a college. Many students seem to forget it, but when it comes down to it, their time here is reliant on being a student first and foremost. So when house parties are being thrown by individuals who either graduated years ago or more likely, never made it to graduation at all, it speaks highly of the kind of people who are encouraged to throw these parties.

Despite the expectation that house parties will be fun to attend, they are merely a reminder of what party culture will actually lead to if it’s your whole personality: a dirty house, a half-finished business degree, and a lot of lotion and kleenex.

Here are some quick questions to ask yourself to determine whether or not you throwing a house party is a social affair or a sad one:

1. Are the walls of your house covered in alcohol paraphernalia or a “Saturdays Are For the Boys” sign?
2. Does your home lack bed frames and/or physical doors?
3. Are the majority of the people entering your home for a party either underage or absolute strangers?
4. Do you attest that your alcoholism is a side effect of being a college student and not an actual problem?
5. Are you regularly out of toilet paper for days at a time?
6. Can you not hold a conversation with your ‘friends’ whilst not under the influence of alcohol?
7. Do you spout a rich and vibrant sex life but go to bed alone every night?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, or if they turned up some uncomfortable feelings within yourself, it might be time to reconsider your choice of social pastime. Despite the expectation that house parties will be fun to attend, they are merely a reminder of what party culture will actually lead to if it’s your whole personality: a dirty house, a half-finished business degree and a lot of lotion and kleenex.