Dear Mr. Gardner:
I read your excellent article on the Counterpunch website. I hate to
quibble about small, inconsequential things, but unfortunately, I only
know about small, inconsequential things. You wrote: "Chico is a
small city near the Northern end of California's Central Valley where
the farmers grow rice and olives on vast tracts. The main claim to
fame of the local college, Cal State Chico, is binge drinking. When
Bryan Epis went there in the mid-1980s, Cal State Chico regularly won
Playboy's 'party-school-of-the-year' award."
I thought I remembered that the Playboy's 'party-school-of-the-year'
award was an urban legend, so I checked it out on Snopes.
this is what they wrote:
http://www.snopes.com/college/admin/playboy.asp
Claim: Playboy magazine compiles annual rankings of America's top
party schools.
Status: Multiple — see below
* Playboy magazine compiles annual rankings of America's top party
schools: False.
* Playboy magazine has twice published their own rankings of
America's top party schools: True.
* Playboy magazine has sometimes printed other publications'
rankings of America's top party schools: True.
Origins: Since about 1955, rumors have been aired at every college
in the country that Playboy had conducted a survey of drinking on
college campuses and used it to compile a list of "America's best
party schools." As far as we can ascertain, such a list has appeared
in the pages of Playboy only twice, in its January 1987 issue and its
November 2002 issue. (Playboy has sometimes also used college rankings
compiled by others, such as the list of "The Top 20 Party Schools for
2000" as ranked by The Princeton Review.)
Prior to 2002, Playboy had compiled such a list only once. They gave
their reason for reprising this feature in 2002 as:
Campus legend has it that Playboy does a yearly ranking of
America's top party schools. Truth is, we haven't done such a roundup
since 1987, when we tagged Cal State-Chico the craziest campus in the
nation. Chico has had bragging rights for 15 years, causing students
to binge with pride while parents and administrators have dried out
fraternities and sororities and canceled Halloween. Some students have
sent us e-mails that say "Don't you dare say Chico State. I'm sick of
having to defend it. It's all because of your article 15 years ago!"
Why do another ranking now? The kids demanded it, our public relations
department is bombarded with calls from students who wonder where
their schools rank. We wanted to hear what goes down on campus — the
good, the bad and blurry — in your own words, more than 1500 of you
wrote. These are your stories.
The 2002 list read as follows:
01. Arizona State
02. California State University, Chico
03. Rollins
04. Louisiana State
05. West Virginia
06. Colorado
07. Wisconsin
08. Connecticut
09. Kansas
10. San Diego State
11. Georgia
12. Ohio State
13. Iowa State
14. Florida State
15. Colorado State
16. Florida
17. Tulane
18. Washington State
19. East Carolina
20. Michigan State
21. Mississippi
22. University of California, Santa Barbara
23. Lehigh
24. Vanderbilt
25. James Madison
Honorable Mentions: Miami of Ohio, Ohio University, Colgate, Penn
State, Pitt, Southern Illinois, Slippery Rock, Tennessee, Texas, and
Dayton.
The information for Playboy's 1987 list of party schools was compiled
in 1986 from the reports of Playboy staffers who interviewed campus
club leaders, dorm rush chairmen, fraternity presidents and other
campus social studs at more than 250 schools nationwide.
The 1987 list read as follows:
01. California State University, Chico
02. University of Miami, Coral Gables
03. San Diego State University, San Diego
04. University of Vermont, Burlington
05. Slippery Rock University, Pennsylvania
06. University of Connecticut, Storrs
07. West Virginia University, Morgantown
08. Plymouth State College, Plymouth, New Hampshire
09. Mercer University, Macon, Georgia
10. University of Virginia, Charlottesville
11. State University of New York, Cortland
12. Colorado State University, Fort Collins
13. Arizona State University, Tempe
14. University of Nevada, Las Vegas
15. Boston University, Boston
16. Central Michigan University, Mount Pleasant
17. Southern Illinois University, Carbondale
18. Ball State University, Muncie, Indiana
19. Oklahoma State University, Stillwater
20. Central Connecticut State University, New Britain
21. University of Maryland, College Park
22. University of Mississippi, Oxford
23. West Georgia College, Carrollton
24. University of Texas, Austin
25. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge
26. University of Kansas, Lawrence
27. Kansas State University, Manhattan
28. Glassboro State College, Glassboro, New Jersey
29. University of Florida, Gainesville
30. Eastern Kentucky University, Richmond
31. University of Iowa, Iowa City
32. University of Oklahoma, Norman
33. Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island
34. Ohio University, Athens
35. University of Massachusetts at Amherst
36. University of Georgia, Athens
37. Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge
38. University of Missouri/Rolla
39. Reed College, Portland, Oregon
40. Fairhaven College, Bellingham, Washington
Honorable Mentions: Alabama, Auburn, Clemson, Colorado at Boulder,
Columbia, Dartmouth, Georgetown, Iowa State, Kent State, Michigan
State, Penn State, Purdue, Rhode Island, Rutgers, Tennessee at
Knoxville, Trinity College.
Gentle souls that they are, Playboy did its best to take the sting out
of being left off the January 1987 compilation by stating, "If your
school isn't listed, it's probably because we didn't include
professionals."
Which leads us straight into the legend which has sprung up around
this famed list.
Then there's the computer bulletin board-fueled story about the
magazine (usually Playboy) that was ranking the Top 10 Party Schools
in the country. Students at the University of Wisconsin were taken
aback when their school didn't rate even an honorable mention; after
all, everyone knows about the legendary cheesehead antics that go on
in Madison. But when the kids contacted the magazine, they were told:
"We don't rank professionals."
But of course this charming bit of blarney has been told about any
number of schools, cheese-enhanced and otherwise.
Barbara "party line" Mikkelson
Last updated: 27 September 2002
The URL for this page is http://www.snopes.com/college/admin/playboy.asp
Click here to e-mail this page to a friend
Urban Legends Reference Pages (c) 1995-2005
by Barbara and David P. Mikkelson
This material may not be reproduced without permission
Sources Sources:
Brunvand, Jan Harold. The Baby Train.
New York: W. W. Norton, 1993. ISBN 0-393-31208-9 (p. 193).
Prato, Alison. "Playboy's Top 25 Party Schools."
Playboy. November 2002 (p. 89).
Roeper, Richard. "Tale of Peanut Butter Spreads Latest Legend."
Chicago Sun-Times. 26 July 1994 (p. 11).
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