Readers Write: Delaware Isn’t Just a Rioting Party School


We don’t often print reader letters here at The Scoop, but after our coverage of Monday’s I’m Shmacked drunky-drunk riot at the University of Delaware, we received a thoughtful missive that seems worth reprinting in full:

Dear Joel,

While it doesn’t excuse the actions of the thousands of rioting, destructive students on our campus this week, I’d like to be sure the world knows that we, as their colleagues and peers, are all banging our heads against the walls this week. We are the majority, those of us who are humiliated on their behalf.

When you think of UD today, please remember the other mobs that occur on our campus, like this one involving 1,232 peopleand this one involving 1,000. I hope that you will also think about the hundreds of students each year who devote their Spring Breaks to service trips. I hope that you know that every week, a student-based and led organization on campus provides help to chronically ill community members in their homes. I wish you knew that our Greek Life has raised millions of dollars for childhood cancer research over the last seven years.

Yes, UD deserves its title as a party school, and yes we all know how to have a good time. But I hope you know that most Blue Hens know how to do so in non-destructive ways, and also how to wake up the next day and be productive, engaged, Go Givers.

Sarah LaFave

UD ‘11