Oberlin is not a party school. It does not have Greek life — a token of many party schools in America — and it does not have the student infrastructure for parties anywhere near the size of those at a school like the University of Alabama or Arizona State University. This doesn’t mean there aren’t parties. Obviously, there are, but if you’re like me and want a party that isn’t just a Spotify playlist on shuffle, lukewarm vodka crans, and sweaty bodies shoving into you, the options are hopelessly slim. Oberlin students’ options for parties are athlete house parties (football, baseball, and lacrosse are the main throwers), jazz parties (jarties); and Co-op parties: Tank Hall, Keep Cottage, Harkness House, or the Bike Co-op. When I first saw how many options there are for parties here, I thought at least one of them would have the vibe I want, but none of them delivered. 

My largest complaint about the parties at Oberlin is how inconsistent and unpredictable they are. On a busy night, there might be three or four parties, and they are usually located opposite to each other on campus. It’s a massive gamble deciding where to go on a night when multiple houses are throwing. If you go to one, and it’s dead, by the time you end up trekking across campus to find the next one, odds are likely that you will get there and it will be shut down by either Campus Safety or the Oberlin Police Department. When this happens, I, along with a lot of other disappointed souls who want to keep partying, will usually resort to the last available option: The Feve. So ultimately, everyone will end up in the same place. Does this not seem ineffective, if not borderline unsafe and incredibly unnecessary? 

What if, instead of multiple houses throwing on a Friday or Saturday night, there was a committee created, a United Nations for partying, where one house is chosen to be the host party for a night? I’m taking an Anthropology class about the formation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the significant flaws it has. Knowing what is ineffective about the UDHR has really helped me understand ways we can make a council effective. So I’m drawing from the concept of a “UN” committee to be the basal structure for what we, as Oberlin students, will then turn into our united party council. This committee would be a democracy, where council members from every potential host house would vote. This system would allow for more well-rounded, planned, and themed parties. Instead of multiple houses trying to throw on the same night, multiple houses would agree on one host house and combine their resources to create and plan a party. 

Some examples of pragmatically thought-out infrastructure might include water stations, setups for lights and lasers, and quiet rooms for neurodivergent people who still want to go out but don’t enjoy loud noises or bright lights. Now not only will students not have to worry about finding out about a party at the last minute before it gets shut down, but the UNFP organizers will also have implemented more effective ways to party safely. Building off pre-existing safety measures — like the SafetyCos used at some co-op parties –– the UNFP could implement a stamp system where every student would receive a stamp on the back of their hand before entering a designated party. These stamps would signify if the person was under or over the age of 21. This doesn’t mean that the UNFP won’t have alcohol; rather, it allows the UNFP to safely administer and regulate the consumption of alcohol, and with age-identifying stamps, other partygoers will be able to identify if someone is underage and potentially in a harmful situation. Additionally, Oberlin is a small school, with a total enrollment of 2,886 undergraduates for the 2024-25 academic year. Even if everyone went out on a given night (which would never happen unless Freddie Mercury was resurrected from the dead and decided to perform at Oberlin), the UNFP would have a system of communication with a committee monitoring and splitting up student traffic in an organized way. For example, on a Friday night, Hark and football are both throwing, Hark is having a live jazz performance themed “Under the Water,” while football is having a DJ set themed “White Trash.” This way students have options and more autonomy when picking the vibe they want to participate in.

I’m making these suggestions because of my own time raving and frequenting parties in Miami, and I think Oberlin can take a lot from those spaces. Rave culture is something that, to my shock, Oberlin touches very little on. This makes zero sense to me because, historically, raves have belonged to queer communities and been spaces of tremendous love and acceptance. The rave community coined the phrase “PLUR,” meaning “peace, love, unity, and respect,” and I honestly can’t think of something that more directly aligns with Oberlin students’ values. Raves have developed a culture orbiting around PLUR because PLUR has created a set of moral guidelines that encourage people to act out of interest for others. Being in a PLUR crowd compared to a non-PLUR crowd is equivalent to comparing a topless Tuesday Hark party to an Alabama frat house. An example is someone getting their phone out to record, remembering that’s against PLUR, and not recording another person.  

More than simply a set of moral guidelines, PLUR is a toolkit that can allow people to plan the best parties possible with the resources available to them. By integrating PLUR into our party culture, we can incorporate students from a plethora of different creative interests. The UNFP could reach out to the Conservatory and the theatre production department, who could help with lighting and making the theme of a party come to life; the Studio Art department, who could be incorporated into anything from painting on the cups that are used to serve drinks to creating promotional material; the Music Theater department, who could incorporate the theme of the night into a performance and get their music out to a larger audience. 

I’m giving a lot of examples to show you how versatile this idea is and how it gives so much room for creative minds — something that Oberlin by no means lacks in — to explore their interests in a social, party format. I think we could have way cooler events if we created a system that allowed more cohesion for creatives to be included in party planning and organizing. 

Oberlin has always been a trailblazer for progress and change. Let’s trailblaze past the traditional college party narrative and move into a new era of inclusivity in partying. Oberlin already has some unique and really wonderful safety nets at parties, including SafetyCos, who are designated sober people that walk around monitoring the state of the partygoers, seeing if anyone needs any water or is blacked out or generally in any sort of uncomfortable situation. Oberlin is the first college I’ve seen implementing something like this; the only other place I’ve seen something similar to SafetyCos is at raves. Additionally, moving the party narrative from “college house party” to a themed function transitions us out of the sophomoric party mentality that is especially prominent in American college culture. Transitioning into the narrative of parties as artistic and immersive experiences would be tremendous, and I think it would help influence students to have a healthy relationship with going out.