Research Blog #1: Initial Topic Idea
What topic or topics are you considering for a class project, and why?
- Drinking cultures - Different time periods, different countries, both surrounding university or university age young adults. The way drinking and culture go hand in hand, and what that means for college culture. I am considering this because college drinking culture is one that almost every student is involved in. It is interesting to me how college aged young adults can be living on their own or even join the military and are still not allowed to drink.
- Religion in college - Are today's students more or less involved with religion on campus? As well as the history of religion in higher education and how much religion is on campuses in today's age. It is something I am interested in because I have no personal attachment to religion. I know little to nothing about religion on its own, nevertheless the relationship between religion and college.
I think college drinking is a good topic. But religion is also interesting. Both topics would be interesting to consider from a historical perspective, as things were very different in the past. I have often suggested to students, for instance, that they consider how the change in the drinking age from 18 to 21, which happened in my own lifetime (from 1981-1983) led to real changes on campus that are worth exploring and documenting. And it is interesting that most colleges in the US began, historically, as religious institutions, but today fewer students than ever are religious or even identify with a particular religion. So both topics are viable. I will give you some more specific suggestions, but it would save me time if you chose between them....
ReplyDeleteI'm personally very interested in learning more about college drinking, especially if you consider the historical dimension. I was thinking about this while reading Melinda Cooper, especially because she discussed Ronald Reagan's desire to reintroduce "in loco parentis" -- and Reagan was instrumental in changing the drinking age. I think that change had a larger political dimension that you could uncover, and Cooper would make a good frame for your project. One thing to consider is the way Animal House (1978) was the alcohol equivalent of the student protest movement and may have been part of what triggered the backlash against alcohol on campus that led to MADD and Reagan's drinking age initiative.
ReplyDeleteSeveral students have written about drinking in my class over the years, though none considered the historical dimension:
http://vimalprajridf16.blogspot.com/
http://callielo.blogspot.com/
http://jennifercollege201.blogspot.com/
http://rutgersunderground.blogspot.com/
http://collette201college.blogspot.com/
What's interesting is that the prohibition of alcohol on campus (you used to be able to drink at the Rutgers Student Center before 1980) forced drinking underground, giving a lot more power -- and trouble -- to Greek life and, if anything, making drinking culture and binge drinking even worse.
DeleteA useful link to the Rutgers Archives can be found here:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.libraries.rutgers.edu/scua/university-archives
I engaged one of the Archivists in a twitter discussion on your topic, and she wrote: "Our copies of The Targum maybe a good resource for this project, but also Student Affairs, B[oard]O[f]G[overnors], & President records. All are here at S[pecial]C[ollections]/U[niversity]A[rchives]"
DeleteReading the first chapter of True Gentlemen: The Broken Pledge of America's Fraternities by John Hechinger, which is a journalistic study of Sigma Alpha Epsilon (SAE), I found some useful material to support the history of drinking, and the rise of the fraternities in the 80s, that we discussed. I also remember a lot of crackdowns on fraternity drinking in the 80s, which seems to have mostly subsided with the rise of the "party pathway."
ReplyDeleteI was thinking you might also watch the movie "Animal House" (1978). There is an interesting commentary that was published in The Atlantic:
https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2014/02/pop-cultures-war-on-fraternities/284126/