Published: October 30, 2008

Fordham College at Lincoln Center (FCLC) has renamed its annual week-long autumn festival (formerly Oksoberfest) “Falltopia.” While some students who attended Oksoberfest last year recall seeing others who did not respect the sober nature of the event, there are mixed feelings about whether the name change and a modified, less-preachy approach will help students take the event more seriously.

Megan Siemers, assistant director for programming at FCLC, pointed out that the name “Oksoberfest” might not have been the best title for the event because of its intended similarity to Oktoberfest, a German fall beer-drinking festival. “People can generally associate the name itself with drinking,” she said.

However, Jessica Campbell, FCLC ’08 and vice president of Peers Advocating Responsibility (PARty), said that she thought that this similarity wasn’t a problem; she instead cited the educational aspects of last year’s event, “and [the fact that ‘Oksoberfest’] has the word ‘sober’ in it, which is a turn off [to students].”

She continued, “We wanted to take the ‘sober-ness’ out of the event in order for people to take it more seriously…so they wouldn’t just laugh it off. Instead of placing the emphasis on drinking, not drinking or being sober, Falltopia wants to place emphasis on natural highs,” she said, giving examples such as laughing with friends and bubble baths as “natural highs” students can enjoy on a daily basis.

Ryan Harrington, FCLC ’11, who attended Oksoberfest last year, said, “Some of the officers for PARty told me that they talked to four people who smelled of alcohol on their breath.” Harrington said that these people were an isolated group that did not represent the totality of Oksoberfest attendees and that they engaged in drinking before they arrived.

Anthony Elder, FCLC ’11, said that he “join[ed] the ranks of those who drank before [Oksoberfest 2007].” He said his rationale for drinking beforehand was the fact that he knew there would be no alcohol there, and “who wouldn’t want to get drunk and play the ridiculous games they had going on?” Elder said he had “a blast” at Oksoberfest and doesn’t think that the name change this year will deter students like himself from repeating their actions.

Francis Pastorelle, FCLC ’10 and public relations representative for the Residence Hall Association (RHA), also said that he doesn’t think the name change will affect how students view the event. Pastorelle said that although he did not witness it himself, he heard that the week of Oksoberfest had become “known to be a week that everybody just uses as a big excuse to get drunk.”

Meghan Carpentier, FCLC ’10 and secretary of PARty, said that it was not the night of the party for Oksoberfest that was the biggest issue in regard student drinking, but rather the weekend after the event. Carpentier attributed this not to Oksoberfest itself, but instead to the fact that it was one of the first weekends of the school year and that the month of October includes Oktoberfest, “which highlights drinking.” She continued, “The name Oksoberfest led to scrutiny and jokes from people, but [the organizers of the event] don’t think it made anyone drink more or less than they already would have.”

Siemers also attributed the amount of drinking done that weekend to the time of year, citing research statistics that indicate that the most drinking among college students occurs during the first six weeks of school.

“Either way, whatever the problem is…to think that by changing the name the problem [will go] away is stupid,” Pastorelle said. He referred to the name change as “tiptoeing around” the issue of student drinking and said that he felt this strategy would be ineffective.

Campbell said that the name change is “in no way influenced by whether or not students were drunk or tipsy at Oksoberfest 2007.” She said it is simply in accordance with the more activities-based approach to the fall celebration, rather than the educational approach of last year. “The main difference between Oksoberfest and Falltopia is that it is less educational in the sense that we aren’t throwing drunk driving statistics and the like in people’s faces,” she said.

This year, PARty is holding its Red Ribbon Week prior to Falltopia. This week is dedicated to promoting awareness of the impact of drugs and alcohol. Last year Red Ribbon Week was immediately after Oksoberfest, so, according to Siemers, the goals of the two events could have converged in students’ minds, inhibiting their ability to receive the messages of each event clearly.

In coming up with the idea of Falltopia, Carpentier said that she “thought it would be fun to have a bunch of events that naturally made people feel good, like eating, exercising, laughing and performing.” She continued, “We changed the name and message behind the week to get a better response from students and to have more fun with students,” she said and compared Falltopia to a “Spring Fling” event for the fall.

“Research shows that scare tactics do not work,” said Siemers about the new approach. She noted that last year, one part of Red Ribbon Week was that students make a pledge not to drink or do drugs. Siemers pointed out that such definitive actions often have the opposite effect: “If you tell students not to do something, they’re going to do it anyway,” she said.

Perhaps it was such rebellion that caused Ian Hoerner, FCLC ’11, to have a “frustrating” experience at Oksoberfest last year. He said that he was “really ticked off when [he] saw and heard of people getting drunk for the event.”

Harrington said, “Personally, I felt that [their actions were] disrespectful to the hard work and dedication of everyone involved in the preparation of Oksoberfest.” But despite this, he said that he enjoyed the night and thought it was a “fun experience because it allowed us to show how people can find alternative ways of having fun without consuming alcohol or other substances.”

Harrington said he believes that the name change will make a difference in students’ perceptions of the event and their decision to drink beforehand. “I think the reason those people attended Oksoberfest drunk was to mock the title rather than the event itself,” he said.

Hoerner expressed a concern that if the event appears too similar, with the same activities and attractions, some people may “understand that it is the same event but under a different name” and will repeat their actions from last year.

Dane Costonas, FCLC ’10, said that he attended Oksoberfest the past two years, and although he said that he didn’t see anyone there that seemed “ridiculously wasted,” he said that he “heard people say that they were going to drink and go to [Oksoberfest] drunk because it is ironic.”

Despite this, Cotsonas said that he thought the name change was “ridiculous because the name Oksoberfest was cheesy but clever, whereas Falltopia is…[silly].”

“The very nature of the event makes people want to get drunk because it’s funny,” Costonas said. “It’s not what it’s called that’s gonna make people [drink or not drink].”