Death doesn't stop Green Beer Day: Miami's drinking culture persists

OXFORD – At 2:36 a.m., fresh vomit is splattered on the sidewalk leading to the driveway on Spring Street, a block from Miami University. Two cop cars with flashing lights are parked between house parties overflowing with college students.

The backyard is insulated by 6-foot-square tarps topped with Christmas lights. A DJ on an elevated platform plays for students dressed in metallic leggings, green hockey jerseys and winter parkas. Almost all hold cups of green beer.

It's a day – and night – Miami University officials dread.

It's a day that one alumnus says, in between sips of beer around 9 a.m. Thursday, is more exciting than graduation.

This is Green Beer Day, an Oxford contradiction.

Green Beer Day is a 65-year-old Miami tradition. It happens the Thursday morning before spring break, where drinking starts at 1 a.m. and can continue all day. It’s a window into a larger Miami problem administrators are determined to end.

This year's edition was Miami's first test since the administration pledged to end a “blackout culture” of drinking, a pledge that came shortly after the alcohol-related death of a freshman in January.

Students say there’s nothing the school can do. A professor who studies college drinking says the town and university aren't doing enough. The mayor is sick of talking about it.

When asked what more can be done, the city police chief apologizes for rambling. He is trying to come up with an answer for something that often seems unsolvable.

"If it went away, we’d all be happier,” Police Chief John Jones said.

He is talking about Green Beer Day, but this is about more than one day.

This is about Oxford, where friends gather around $1 pitchers of beer and liquor shots on Friday afternoons. This is about Miami University, where students name off-campus houses Booze Barn, Tequila Mockingbird and Menace to Sobriety. This is about a culture that has endured, despite tragedy and despite previous attempts to change it.

On Jan. 20, 18-year-old student Erica Buschick died of alcohol poisoning after a night of drinking. Her name is known across campus.

Yet Green Beer Day continues.

The university's first test

At 4 a.m., students drop their cups and scatter as police bust a party at Spring Street. Time to find another one.

Some move to a fraternity house across campus where students use Styrofoam cups to scoop a green liquor concoction for guests.

A few students are wearing green T-shirts that say “Oxford against the world.” The music is blaring. A group of upperclassmen embrace each other and belt the lyrics, “Tonight, we are young. So let's set the world on fire. We can burn brighter than the sun.”

The university encouraged professors to hold class with "meaningful” and “gradable” activities on Thursday.

This year, fewer bars opened while it was still dark outside. There were more police than ever before. And this was the first year law enforcement conducted a drunken-driving checkpoint near campus, starting at 7 a.m.

But questions persist about whether these efforts are effective or sustainable.

Chris Maraschiello has four degrees from Miami. He lived in Oxford for about 20 years as a student and resident. He has a Miami bumper sticker on his car, and his children frequently ask him when they are moving back.

In short, he loves Miami and Oxford more than most. Even he worries nothing will change.

"The more things change, the more they stay the same," Maraschiello said, discussing the spotlight the university has been thrust into. "My cynical view is after six months this will be swept back under the rug."

President Gregory Crawford told The Enquirer Miami has “work to do” to combat its binge-drinking culture. His words came just days after police made 21 alcohol-related runs, and at least seven students were hospitalized in one weekend.

Some say the hospitalizations are a sign of progress – a sign students are calling 911 instead of worrying about getting in trouble.

Crawford is pushing for more. He recently told Miami trustees “everything is on the table.”

But this isn't the first time Miami's drinking has worried administrators. Former University President David Hodge commissioned an Alcohol Task Force in 2014. That group released a report the next year finding freshmen at Miami are more likely to start drinking than most new college students.

"Miami University students’ high-risk drinking rates consistently rank higher than the national average," the report states.

An outside expert consulted by the task force said the environment in Oxford "supports and enables high-risk alcohol use."

Even the president before Hodge formed a similar commission. Here’s what that group concluded, in 2006: “As an institution and a larger community we can and must do better!"

How much effort is enough?

At 5:30 a.m., students migrate to High Street. The lines for popular bars stretch around the corner of Brick Street and The Woods. Some arrived as early as 3:30 a.m., standing outside in 20-degree weather waiting to get in.

Inside, bar tops are crowded with buckets of green drinks with at least five assorted liquors and mixers known as “trashcans” and “Redskins." Bartenders pour green shots and pitchers of cheap green beer.

The outdoor patios fill before the sun comes up. Some students are bundled and huddled around aluminum space heaters, for others, the buzz is enough to keep warm.

On Feb. 20, about a month after Buschick’s death, university officials sent a letter to faculty reminding them of Green Beer Day. This is done every year.

The day-long event "promotes significant alcohol consumption," compromises "the academic integrity of our institution" and puts students at "significant personal risk" for alcohol poisoning and public intoxication, the letter says.

Miami University Police Capt. Benjamin Spilman, who has seen 25 Green Beer Days, said there aren’t more arrests or incidents on Green Beer Day than any other day.

Oxford police made 66 arrests and citations between 2 a.m. Thursday and 2 a.m. Friday, including underage drinking, public intoxication and nuisance party. Five drivers were also charged with operating a vehicle while impaired, according to the Ohio State Highway Patrol.

Students say the numbers are low because underclassmen know about the large police presence, and some bars don’t let patrons under 21 in on Green Beer Day. Others are turned down at bars if they don't have a student ID to confirm their driver's license isn't fake.

David Budig, a Miami alumnus and member of the Board of Trustees, says the drinking culture goes beyond Green Beer Day.

“It’s not about this day and it’s not just Miami,” Budig said. “This is a problem that has been with college campuses for some time.”

He believes the administration is capable of solving the problem, but it has to be done in partnership with the community and students. And it’s not going to happen overnight.

“It’s a process,” Budig said. “It is a No. 1 priority of the administration … and we believe we’re making headway.”

Rose Marie Ward, a professor of public health at Miami, found approximately 60 percent of students reported binge drinking in the past month, after surveying a couple hundred students throughout the 2016-17 school year. She said that's significantly higher than the national average of 38 percent, according to the National Institutes of Health.

Ward believes Green Beer Day – and the culture surrounding it – would slowly disappear if the university did more.

She studies college student health with a focus on addictive behaviors including alcohol use. For 14 years, she has conducted online surveys, talked to students at local bars and taken breath alcohol tests from them to collect data several times throughout each semester.

Ward said the biggest trend in the last five years at Miami is more people who say they’re drinking with the intention to black out.

The drinking culture is an outgrowth of the environment, according to Ward, and Miami has a reputation for being a party school.

After meeting with local businesses, students and city leaders, the university decided to do more this year.

On March 8 the university held a forum for students to learn more about Miami’s Good Samaritan Policy, which allows students to call for medical attention in drug- or alcohol-related situations while minimizing or removing disciplinary consequences.

The next day, Miami’s office of student wellness and Oxford leaders conducted a workshop on how to identify alcohol poisoning, action steps to take, and rules about if/when an individual may get in trouble. The workshop was targeted toward taxi drivers and late-night food service providers.

University groups and community organizations also sponsored alternative social events on Green Beer Day, including a pancake breakfast in the Uptown Park, a March Madness watch party on campus, and games and presentations in residence halls.

Student government launched a campaign this week called “Life is Priceless.” Leaders put stickers on coffee sleeves around campus listing numbers for Oxford police, Miami police and the local hospital.

“You make the call,” the stickers read.

“It’s trying to tackle the culture here with accepting it a little bit,” student body president Maggie Reilley said. “Students are more receptive to that.”

A 'work hard, play hard' culture that isn’t going away

Around 7 a.m. a woman wrapped in a boa, wearing a sequined top and green tutu made of tulle, dances around a crammed bar. A few feet away, friends play cards at a table filled with half-empty plastic cups of beer and liquor drinks.

An hour later, at a bar across the street, a student has a cup of vodka mixed with Sprite in one hand. She has a single pancake in the other. She turned down the maple syrup that was also offered over the patio railing by a volunteer.

By 9 a.m. Thursday, the same bars that were full of green a couple of hours ago already resemble a ghost town. A coffee shop tapes a large "X" over its bathroom to keep wandering drunk students out. A note is placed in the center: "Nope."

Francesca Thomas, a 22-year-old senior from Columbus, said there is social pressure to drink here. In part, she says, because there isn’t much else to do in Oxford.

Students routinely point out there isn’t a movie theater in town.

“There's this idea that this is your time to be crazy, and if you don’t do that, then you aren’t really doing college right,” Thomas said.

Ultimately, students drive the culture – not the administration.

"I don't think there's anything the administration can do, as much as they may want to," said Matt Hyman, a 22-year-old student and bartender. “You push people, people are going to push back."

He and Thomas both said the majority of students drink responsibly and know their limits.

“You’re still going to go to class, which is what you’re here for,” Thomas said. “It’s work hard, play hard.”

Around 10 a.m., students walk back to their homes, Bagel & Deli in hand, to get ready for class. Others, who opted to skip, head home to take a nap so they're ready to continue to party that afternoon and into the night.

At 1:30 p.m., The Interfaith Center, which celebrated green tea day, does a brisk business on Campus Avenue to combat the drinking. They hand out tea, lemonade, cookies and muffins. All free. An older couple playing bluegrass is the live entertainment.

Less than 200 yards away, dozens of students, some wearing dresses and shamrock tattoos, are outside drinking at private parties on the same street. Cracked red Solo cups are scattered around their feet on the grass.

Later that night, bars will be packed with green once again.