I don’t blame students for taking advantage of Townhouse Day for as long as they have done so. However, Townhouse Day, as we know it, should never have been allowed to happen to begin with.

Originally, Townhouse Day was set up to celebrate the completion of another year at Pace. It was never meant to be an all-day-drinking party.

Don’t get me wrong, if you want to drink all day, that’s fine.  Seriously, do it up. That’s not the issue. But, when the university sets up and hosts an event, they become responsible for what goes on at that event. With that, they should make certain that the event follows all of the proper guidelines that they, themselves, have set up. It was irresponsible and unethical for them to have allowed Townhouse Day to become what it was.

Of the numerous ethical and legal issues, the most glaring has to be that most students here are under 21. There is no getting around that, and there is no room for interpretation of the law; they can’t legally drink.

If Townhouse Day were set up the way it initially was, this would not be a problem. But, as we all know, Townhouse Day has transformed into an all-day party that features all sorts of illegal activity.

Let’s, for a second, suppose that all Pace students are 21, thus making the consumption of alcohol legal. Still, Pace has its own set of rules that limit where and how much alcohol you can have.

For example, residents over 21 can’t have more than a six pack of beer or a bottle of wine in their possession. The rules also forbid all liquors, and all drinking outside of residence halls.

We all know that people aren’t just drinking beer and wine at Townhouse Day. We also know that participants aren’t staying inside all day. Logically, these facts make Townhouse Day against policy.

I sympathize with people that are upset about the cancellation of Townhouse Day. I really do. But the fact remains that we got lucky that we were able to have Townhouse Day for as long as we did. Pace screwed up by letting it become what it became, and now they have fixed their screw up.

I have no problem with partying, or doing any of the aforementioned things. If you do them responsibly and don’t cause problems, there should be no issue. But, they have to be done without school involvement. Pace should not condone what happens at parties. It is their job to make responsible decisions for themselves and do what they think is best for their students. That means following both the law and their own guidelines.

Hopefully, students can take solace in knowing that they aren’t losing something that they should have. They are losing something that they shouldn’t.