Chris KempMifflin Street Block Party 2005. Ask John Q. Student to provide a description of his time there, and you’ll probably receive a response that involves keg stands, anecdotes of drunken encounters in downtown restaurants, or the phrase “kick-ass.” And as a participant in this year’s festivities, I would probably respond in similar fashion if you caught me off the record.
But as I was riding back from Madison with a few buddies talking about what a good time we had, I started to think about what Mifflin really is about. For one day, students, regardless of whether they are legally allowed to drink, flood Mifflin Street and disobey myriad regulations on drinking, noisy music and other forms of rowdiness.
I’m not going to go into any specifics, but let’s just say my friends and I did some things that on any other day would have landed us in the drunk tank or earned us a considerable amount of citations.
Intrigued by the level of freedom the city of Madison allowed students at this year’s Mifflin Street Block Party, I did a little research on The Badger Herald’s Web site.
The block party started in 1969 when students who opposed the Vietnam War started partying in protest. Riots ensued, and Madison Police challenged the crowd, futilely attempting to clear the streets. There was tear gas (which reminded me of Halloween 2004), mass arrests, beatings – all the crazy stuff that makes a drinking ticket in Eau Claire seem like a lucky break.
This continued for a few years before the city decided to alter its approach, changing the relationship from adversarial to amicable.
Part of the transition can be accredited to the fact that the partying became less about protest and violence and more about boozing – but a lot of the credit goes to the students who persevered, drinking and carousing despite what the city of Madison said. It was obvious the city would never triumph.
And this year, with the ’60s far behind us, UW students imposed their will on the city of Madison once again, by insisting the Mifflin Street Block Party be held a week earlier than usual because of Madison’s final exam schedule being moved up.
At first the city said it wouldn’t budge, citing costs of up to $90,000 to change the date. The Madison Police Department threatened to ratchet-up ticketing and arrests in hopes of deterring students from partying on the last weekend in April.
Then, about a week before the showdown, Mayor Dave Cieslewicz announced the date would be moved. On WISC TV-3, in Madison, a spokesman said the mayor didn’t want students to party on both days – a clear indication that he recognized students’ resolve. And we went to Madison and drank, caroused and played our music while the cops stood by, only daring to regulate those who were causing any real trouble.
Mifflin is proof that whether it’s the turbulent, politicized ’60s or the boring old 2000s, the student body at any campus has a considerable amount of clout. Clout that, if properly applied, could inspire much greater change than boozing a weekend sooner.
Don’t get me wrong – I’m all for rallying behind the Mifflin cause – but it seems to me there’s a lot of wasted potential here … no pun intended.
Imagine if students across the nation could get as fired up about political or social issues as they do drinking. John Kerry could be in office. We could hold the state legislature accountable to the UW-System and increase educational funding.
OK, maybe that’s a little out of your average student’s scope of interest. How about lowering the drinking age or ending Sodexho’s monopoly on campus food provisions?
Political arguments aside, I’m pretty sick of being a big mooch and calling anyone I know that is 21 to ask for beer. And I haven’t heard anyone ever say they had a nice lunch at Blimpie’s the other day.
Just something to think about. In the meantime, party on.
Reisinger is a sophomore print journalism major and a copy editor of The Spectator.
