The College of the Holy Cross and the culture of alcoholism
Written by admin on November 27th, 2009By Rosalie Tirella
Three or so years ago, after scores of InCity Times articles/Tony Hmura ads decrying the lewd, thoughtless and stupid behavior of dead-drunk Holy Cross students (one of our readers wrote us that a HCross couple was having sex in the hallway in the three decker in which she and her child lived!!!), I was at a corner store in the Madison Street/Southbridge street area of Worcester. I was heading to my car when a prepped-out (short haircut, loafer-wearing, no socks) late-40-something-year-old guy came up to me and told me: 1. He was visiting his kid at Holy Cross and could I give him directions to the school and 2. Could I also give him directions to the nearest package store (I think he even said “packie”!).
I was appalled. Here he was: the Holy Cross frat guy all grown up! Just as arrogant as he had been during his Holy Cross days – and, more important to me, just as big an alcoholic.
This weekend he was helping/enabling his kid to become an alcoholic.
I put two and two together: I gave boozer-dad directions to Holy Cross, but I didn’t tell him where the nearest package store was.
Then I got into my car thinking alcoholism IS A GENERATIONAL CURSE. It is passed on and on and on … from grandparents to parents to kids … from holiday parties to birthday bashes to summer cook-outs to wakes and to gatherings of all sorts (both happy and sad), with Holy Cross college being some kind of milestone for young alcoholics. Here the kids were: at school, away from home, under all sorts of pressure, enjoying all sorts of new experiences. Boozing, somehow, made things seem more real. Alcohol was/is a big part of Holy Cross students’ lives. And when Dad visits Holy Cross, he drinks, too, he parties, too. (Especially if there’s a football game! Go Crusaders!)
Drinking is also – and I don’t want to stereotype – an Irish thing. From the beautifully written drinking songs/poems of Robert Burns to the booze-soaked plays of Eugene O’Neil. Holy Cross is filled with Irish kids. Many of whom enjoy all of the above and for whom boozing is part of growing up in an Irish/Catholic family. A few years ago, a magazine article listed the world’s top drinkers. At the top: The Irish. And just so you don’t think I’m being a jerk: Also at the top: WASPS. It seems the Allen Fletchers of the world also love the sauce! Also: a few years ago a magazine article was published on the incredible drinking problem of Ireland. It theme: alcoholism was a national problem for Ireland – with saloons being closed earlier as one solution to an entire nation’s tippsiness!
Holy Cross’ president, the Reverand McFarland, is full of shit when he tells Worcester that he has this boozing thing under control. He doesn’t. How can he, when HCross students’ most important mentors – their parents – are alcoholics? How can Rev. McFarland – even with the help of Worcester cops! – eradicate boozing on his campus and the mayhem that accompanies it, if his students’ parents are doing pretty much the same thing? Only they are doing the same thing in the privacy of their suburban homes back in New Jersey or Pennsylvania.
Two things we need to do:
1. Somehow get Worcester cops to make more arrests – being “cuffed,” given a ride in a piss-smelling “paddy wagon,” and spending some time in an equally smelly holding cell – will give many Holy Cross students a scare. Making sure this arrest goes on their records – and publishing the names of the kids in all the newspapers – will shame them into getting help. And make it a three-strikes (three arrests/police raids) and your out – out of Holy Cross. Forever. That’s right, permanent expulsion. There are plenty of bright, upper-middle class kids who don’t have drinking problems and whose parents have a ton of money. Holy Cross can recruit these saner kids/families.
2. Holy Cross needs to have someone – at this point it’s probably The City of Worcester – do an intervention. Grab Holy Cross by its Izod collar and scream: YOU’RE AN ALCOHOLIC! YOU’RE RUINING YOUR LIFE AND THE LIVES OF THOSE AROUND YOU (Caro Street especially!)! GET DE-TOXED! JOIN AA! STOP DRINKING! WE WILL DRIVE YOU STRAIGHT TO A HOSPITAL! NOW!
That’s right. Some of these kids are most likely toxic with booze. Take them to the hospital, get them detoxed and let them know they need to stay on the wagon – forever.
I attended UMass/Amherst in the ’80s. I knew lots of party boys and gals – good kids but crazy. One kid was especially sweet – a bright engineering student from the Boston area. But my God, he loved to guzzle! And guzzle!
Maybe you can booze to your heart’s content as a liberal arts major, but you can’t be an alcoholic, if you’re an engineering student. The math classes are way too hard. The work load way too challenging. You’ll flunk out in a semester.
Sure enough, my pal at UMass failed his engineering courses. He was gone from UMass the next semester. Where’s “Bob”? we all asked. His pal told us: he was being destoxed.
Yup. Detoxed at 19. The nicest kid! I don’t know what happened to “Bob” – he never returned to UMass.
If Holy Cross were WPI – an engineering school – South Worcester would have zero problems. Caro Street would be filled with malnourished looking geeks running to their next classes, their backpacks stuffed with books. Visit WPI. This is exactly what you’ll see on the city’s West Side streets.
Heaven.
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You are a joke…comparing WPI and UMASS to Holy Cross. … If it wasn’t for our “alcoholic” school, your precious worcester would have no economy. Rosalie Tirella, what is that? Italian or hispanic? So by your logic, should I tell you to stop clogging your arteries with meatballs and/or tacos? To detox yourself from your culture’s high sodium/fat foods? No, I wont make rash judgements like this…I went to Holy Cross, so I know better. Perhaps if I scored less than a 1000 on my SATs [Editor's note: I scored 1200 on my SATs - and went to Clark U before transferring to UMass. My UMASS boyfreind scored a 1600! He was a brain - and a UMass engineering student. Even though his dad was an engineer and his mom a teacher, he got a scholarship from the state of Massachussetts - a special one reserved for state students with perfect SAT scores! Also, the guy I went out with BEFORE my boyfriend, was a physics major and another brain (UMass is filled with them, you elitist asshole!) He got a perfect math score 800 and a score of 720 in verbal. Before coming to UMass he graduated from Boston's Berklee School of Music - he was a jazz drummer. Also, his buddy was brilliant, too. I caught him - believe it or not - on the Martha Stewart Show!], I would’ve went to UMASS and primed myself with distorted ideas. Also, do your research as to how hard our students work…HC is ranked 18th on the “Students Study the Most” List from Princeton Review. WPI and UMASS were nowhere to be found? In conclusion, not only is your article a joke, your point of view wildly incorrect, and your general existence destructive to society…eh, forget it, I’m going to have a beer.
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Dear Rosalie,
I am appalled by this editorial. First of all, if you came to Holy Cross even once during the day, you would realize that students are either in the library or in class until after nightfall. Secondly, Holy Cross students are accepted into this college not by their drinking abilities or histories, but because of their transcripts and their abilities to perform at a heightened level. I dare you to come and try to even take one class at Holy Cross in comparison to any other school in this area or in the nation. You might even learn a thing or two about grammar, syntax, and punctuation. Try proof reading your articles before posting your false attacks on Holy Cross students in your online blog.
Secondly, why would any parent want to “breed” their children to be alcoholics? No parent would want any of their offspring to live their lives with this DISEASE. Might I add that there is a difference between having a disease and going to party on the weekends. Also, it is ridiculous and downright wrong to believe that no other schools in this area party. Come on, you are glib to believe that.
Also, if you are going to attack the Irish culture under the pretence that you do not want make “stereotypes,” do not put into the same article the sentence “Grab Holy Cross by its Izod collar,” Why don’t you go ahead and make generalizations about the entire New England community?
College students party, get over it. It will never change. If you would like to live your life differently, who would I be to criticize you and say, “You don’t drink…loser.” I would never say anything like this because it is your prerogative to live your life the way that you please. I work hard at Holy Cross. My parents have worked hard to get me here. It is a slap in the face to me and to my parents to see this article and it makes me feel sorry for you.
Lastly, although I do not agree with many of the decisions that Father McFarland has made in the past, I believe that he has done all that is in his power to stop partying off of campus. What is he supposed to do? Lock us in our rooms every time night falls?
I hope that you realize that although students at this school party, it is not our life. As is heard around many campuses around the nation, we “work hard and party hard.” Life is full of times when one has to be serious. Why will people not let us be kids when we have the chance?
Cheers,
Kerry O’Brien Wright
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I find it incredible that a resident of Worcester is able to devote so much time to an issue that barely affects the greater community. If Worcester residents dedicated a quarter of to the actual issues plaguing the city (i.e. the failing schools, the poverty, the violence), as they do to underage drinking, they might be able to sustain the city without depending on the support and generosity of an institution such as Holy Cross.
AS a former UMASS Amherst student, shame on you for slinging mud at Holy Cross. Seriously, you want to claim that these students are nearly as atrocious as those that run around at the so-called “zoo?” Secondly, please don’t insult the educational caliber of Holy Cross by claiming that just because ONE student you know from UMASS was unable to maintain both a social lifestyle and a decent GPA that therefore Holy Cross must be a joke. Did it ever occur to you that the rigorous application process of Holy Cross helps to weed out those individuals that might not be so bright after all? Compare the applications of those individuals that go to UMASS with those that enter Holy Cross and see if you still consider that a viable argument.
Lastly, let’s try to distinguish the difference between social drinking and alcoholism. A distinguishing characteristic of an intelligent person is that ability to discern subtlety and to see shades of gray, rather than black-and-white. You seem incapable of doing such. I (along with all of my friends) partook in this partying lifestyle. It was a fun (and to some extent, necessary) part of our lifestyle. Additionally, spending long hours in the library and taking time to volunteer in the Worcester community were parts of our lifestyle. I graduated magna cum laude and now have a very steady job. I work weekends and incredibly long hours. I make a solid living and I contribute to society. Without those nights of letting loose with friends and classmates, I don’t think I would be the successful, well-adjusted person I am today. Oddly enough, not a single one of my friends exhibits true dependence on alcohol. While I recognize that a very small percentage of students may go on to have a substance abuse problem, this is no different from any other population.
While Worcester residents are busy complaining about undergrads drinking a lot, Holy Cross students are contemplating serious real-world problems. Furthermore, they are actually contributing something to the world. I encourage you to take a look at the overwhelming numbers of students that choose to devote their time and talent to volunteer programs such as the Peace Corp and Teach for America.
Let’s also discuss for a moment why it is that so many Worcester residents seem so concerned with this issue. The majority of off-campus students reside in houses on Caro Street. Thus, they are their own neighbors. Noise, violence, etc. that they create is caused by Holy Cross students and affects only Holy Cross students (with the exception of that one family that refuses to accept generous offers to buy their home…we call those people masochists).
Bottom Line: Worcester residents need to do some self-examination and try to understand why it is that this so-called “problem” which has little to no effect on them seems to bother them so much. Perhaps, they should also consider the impact of schools like Assumption, Clark, Becker, and WPI and stop singling out this school. (
You, my friend, should also stop spurring racial vitriol towards the Irish. It’s called prejudice, something we scorn at Holy Cross. Sure, we have our vices, but doesn’t every ethnic group? The amazing thing with ours is that it doesn’t burden the rest of society. (Shall we discuss the epidemic of children born to unwed mothers in other ethnic groups or the results of heroin/crystal meth use by others?) Irish people are hard-working, well-employed people. We pay taxes and we contribute to charity. We also mind our own business-I suggest you start following suit.
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Dear Rosalie,
Although I understand your concern, frustration, and annoyance with college drinking, I think your article is rude, biased, and completely unfounded. You base the core of your argument on a preppy looking young father who asked you for directions in order to visit his son at college. The problem you say is that he asked for directions to the package store, though he is over the age of 21 and you rudely denied him. Sounds to me it like Parent’s weekend, a father going to take his son to tailgate before the football game to cheer his team on to win the Patriot League Championship. So the two of them needed a few beers to keep their blood and have some good-hearted fun while standing in the rain for 2 hours. Yet you make an assumption based on nothing else than the father’s inquiry on where the nearest package store is, that he is an alcoholic. And therefore his son is also an alcoholic and consequently the entire Holy Cross community. You are wrong Rosalie. And furthermore, if that man was a “Holy Cross frat guy all grown up [Holy Cross does not have frats]” he wouldn’t need directions to the school.
You call alcoholism a “generational curse,” while it is actually a disease. It seems to me that you are confused about what constitutes drinking at holiday parties and suffering from a chronic disease. Similarly you confuse college parties with some type of congregation of self-destructive alcoholics. I feel sorry for your “friend” Bob, who you never followed up with, and never offered to help. Maybe you should have told him to get help or go to an AA meeting. But Holy Cross students are not like Bob. They party on Friday and Saturday and spend Sunday through Thursday in the library. No, we are not “malnourished geeks,” and for that I am glad. Holy Cross students are well-rounded, ambitious, and go on to accomplish tremendous things after graduation. Many of us are athletes and students and work harder than you or the WPI geeks you reference could ever postulate. And yes, a grand majority of us are Irish and drink on the weekends in addition to our athletic competitions, and rigorous academic demands. I am sorry you missed out on a great aspect of college, and life for that matter.
Next time you write such slanderous things about Holy Cross or the brilliantly motivated students who attend this prestigious institution, check your facts first.
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This lady is brilliant. Sharp observations and good analysis of the Holy Cross drinking problem. The school needs people of her stature to administrate the students and uphold a sense of decency in the Worcester community. God bless people like Rosalie the Riveter. She’s probably got the build and muscle to go over there and put some of these unruly gents in their place. You go girl!
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HC support worcester not its liquor stores. As an alumni I can tell you that the most active and contributing members of worcrster are those on the hill. The students who buy beers on the weekend are nothing compared to the 40% of worcestoer population who is unemployed and buy flasks of whiskey at 10 am on tuesday
HC may party hard but they work hard. 2 nights a week . If you don’t like it … and move out of the 4th cheapest city in the country (forbes 9/2009).
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This article is an embarrassment to journalism, and it never would have gotten past any respectable editor at any legitimate newspaper. You obviously have no idea what alcoholism is since you throw around the term “alcoholic” so loosely. Alcoholism is a serious problem that ruins lives and that people struggle to deal with; to label the entire Holy Cross student body as “alcoholics” is making a mockery of a serious disease. Did you ever stop to think that this passage: “…Holy Cross college being some kind of milestone for young alcoholics. Here the kids were: at school, away from home, under all sorts of pressure, enjoying all sorts of new experiences. Boozing, somehow, made things seem more real. Alcohol was/is a big part of Holy Cross students’ lives” could be used to describe pretty much every college in Worcester and even in the country? Maybe you also should have stopped to think before you stated that you didn’t want to stereotype. You clearly DID want to stereotype and then proceed to run with that stereotype and use it in an attempt to justify your ignorant claims. Your use of WPI as the example of the perfectly dry and studious college was also really lost on me. If you had done some quick research, you would have found that the students over there also have their issues with alcohol; there must be some Irish kids wearing loafers with no socks corrupting those poor engineering students. …
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Preface: I didn’t attend Holy Cross so I can’t speak for the students and their actions. I am taking offense at your generalization about being able to “…booze to your heart’s content as a liberal arts major, but you can’t be an alcoholic(, unnecessary comma by the way) if you’re an engineering student.” I am currently a post professional masters of architecture student at a prominent tech school in New Jersey. My engineer friends drank and boozed just as much as my liberal arts friends, just in more concentrated doses on weekends or nights off. Yes, the curriculum was hard. Yes, they studied a ton. BUT because of this, when a rare night off would come up, they would party like there was no tomorrow. I can say the same for my architecture colleagues. We are known for keeping ridiculous hours and working for days and nights straight. After reviews, most of us would sleep it off for a night and then go out and celebrate. Have you noticed that whenever someone says “not to be stereotypical, but…” the next thing out of their mouths is horribly stereotypical? We have enough rubbish journalism clogging our airwaves and newspapers …
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Dear Rosalie,
To say I found your “article” offensive would be a gross understatement; I found it to be a ranting piece full of stereotypes written by someone who is grossly uneducated about the Holy Cross student body, and for that matter those student’s parents.
For you to attack all Irish as booze-hound alcoholics is, in short, rude. I am proud to be from an Irish family and can tell you none of my family members are alcoholics. I can also say that to make the general statement that the Irish are a bunch of boozers is unfair; thats like saying all Italians are overeating mobsters or hispanics are all taco-munching gang-members, which I think you would agree would be a freakishly inaccurate statement.
For you to attack Holy Cross parents based on your ‘encounter’ with this “grown-up frat” boy is ignorant on your part. First of all, Holy Cross has no greek life, so to say he was the frat boy all grown up?, sorry but no chance there. Further more perhaps he was looking to get a celebratory bottle of wine for his son or daughters good grades? maybe he enjoys a glass of scotch after dinner like so many do. Just because he was looking for the nearest packie does not classify him as an alcoholic; with that statement I believe you would be classifying a large portion of Worcester as chronic alcoholics.
Furthermore, if Holy Cross were an engineering school we would have less of a ‘drinking problem’? I know WPI students, MIT students, Columbia students, Lehigh students who are engineers. I have visited them, partied with them, and I can assure you that it is no less ‘out-of control’, as you put it, than Holy Cross drinking.
Holy Cross students work very hard, as do students of all colleges or universities. And yes, sometimes partying can get out of control. Is this something unique to Holy Cross? Absolutely not. Is out-of-control damaging partying so frequent at Holy Cross that your rant is necessary? No. I challenge you to look into the good that Holy Cross students do in Worcester by volunteering there time and energy in various ways to benefit the community. I challenge you to get to know some of these people you call ‘elitist assholes’ and figure out what generous, intelligent human beings they are. Then maybe you won’t feel the need to be so self-riteous and attack an entire group of people which you clearly do not understand.
Alcohol is, unfortunately, a large part of a students collegiate experience, regardless of where that student attends. But to say that we as Holy Cross students are a bunch of raging alcohlics fueled on by our parents and our Irish heritage is inaccurate and frankly you should be ashamed of making such judgements. As a Holy Cross student I attended parties, I engaged in social drinking, but I am certainly not an alcoholic and I can tell you very, very few of my peers could be judged as such.
I am sure that you are thinking I am in denial, that I don’t realize who could be classified as an alcoholic. Believe me I have had more than my fair share of education in the matter through psychology courses, health ed and the mandatory education all incoming freshman must complete about alcohol and alcohol abuse.
I am not sure what has made you so bitter and angry towards Holy Cross and it’s students, and I am sorry for whatever event or events caused you to feel this way. However it is irresponsible for someone educated as you are to make such steretyped comments and be so incredibly judgemental, and I pity that you are so closed-minded.
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I really don’t know what to say about your story, and I use the term story in its whole context, because most of the things you profess as facts are nothing short of bland stereotypes. Do you HONESTLY think Holy Cross’ drinking issues are DIFFERENT from any other school in the same caliber? They’re not. Go to BC, BU, Villanova, Bucknell and observe. Do you know what you’ll see? No, not kids polishing their shoes or re-organizing their notes for class on Monday, but kids actually drinking beverages–gasp! POSSIBLY ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES!!! Oh my God, it’s an epidemic! Let’s blow this “problem” out of proportion because we have nothing better to do with out lives!!!!!
You make it seem like drinking is a disease. Instead of bitching about Holy Cross’ “problems”, why don’t you whine about something more worthwhile, like the crime rate in Worcester (someone got shot in a gas station less than a mile away a little more than a year ago), the terrible economy in Worcester, the fact that Worcester has some of the most severe poverty in the Northeast, or the fact that Worcester is plagued with self-righteous morons like you who think that they can tackle and solve all the “problems.” If you hate our school so much and find it so unbearable to be around us, do one simple thing: LEAVE. Our school has more than 160 years of prestigious history, has contributed more to “your” community more than you ever, and has produced more respectable, productive men and women than you could ever fathom.
Our school was purposely built on a hill, away from the city, in order to prevent morons like you having any impact on our culture, virtues, and religion. It’s no shock that when I go into Worcester, I never hear people say “Thank you” or “God bless you.” I never see people hold doors open for one another. I never see any kind of ethical values. All I see is some kind of impersonal, irrational, superiority. Yet, you have the gull to accuse Holy Cross as being snobby/arrogant just because the school is expensive? I guess you’ve never seen the hundreds of community service programs kids on campus donate time to every week. If I had it my way, I’d rather the school drive an extra twenty minutes to another city that actually appreciates the work we contribute, rather than have some woman enduring a mid-life crisis, choosing to attack everything she doesn’t understand like a xenophobe. Your arrogance is utterly appalling.
In closing, I feel as if I must be bluntly honest with you; I will not miss Worcester at all when I graduate. I will not miss its inhabitants, its society, or its culture. I will not miss the dark, gloomy, renovated industrial buildings that try to look like centers of commerce. I will not miss the feeling of being an outsider on the streets. I will not miss the feeling of having to check if my wallet was still there after passing a thug. I will not miss reading your asinine sentiments.
I will, however, miss the beautiful, brick-laden buildings of the campus. I will miss all the professors who taught me how to properly think. And most of all, I’ll miss all of the students I’ve met here; the ones you’ll refer to as “alcoholics.” The ones you believe to be an eclectic “Izod”-wearing bunch of delinquents. I will always remember all the times I’ve had with other students, drinking in crumby, dilapidated off-campus housing, fearful of the cops busting the party because some nosy neighbor wants to go to sleep at 9:30, and he/she can’t BEAR the sound of music, speech, and laughter. I’ve loved this school to death, and I have learned more here (both inside and outside the classroom) than anywhere else.
Thank you Worcester, for nothing.
Thank you Holy Cross, for everything.
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Unbelievable. As a Holy Cross student I resent the slanderous nature of this article. To make such accusations against me, my parents (who, yes, also went here. Neither of them are or ever have been alcoholics and they’ve certainly never partied with me.) and my classmates is obnoxiously ignorant. You said yourself that you went to school with plenty of kids that partied. So don’t get up on a soapbox and start railing on about how Holy Cross students must be stupid because we “booze to [our] heart’s content as a liberal arts major,” when a) our school ranks among the highest liberal arts institutions in the nation and b) college drinking certainly isn’t characteristic of our school alone. Spend a weekend off-campus at a state school and you’ll be happy to come back to Caro Street. As a side note: liberal arts isn’t a major but mathematics is and the classes aren’t exactly child’s play. Not to mention the fact that Holy Cross has plenty of students who complete our own engineering program (which is joined with other fine institutions such as Columbia and Dartmouth) with flying colors.
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Rosalie Tirella, … This is an offensive and childish article. Holy Cross is the best thing about Worcester. Worcester has many more grave problems to deal with than BIG BAD HOLY CROSS. The city is an embarrassment and should be grateful to Holy Cross for giving it somewhat of a good name. Worcester doesn’t deserve Holy Cross.
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As a Worcester resident, I am honestly embarrassed to read this. I am proud to raise my children here and am grateful for many of the opportunities this city has provided me. However, you are truly giving this city a bad name. It is the narrow minded views like yours that tarnish our reputation for local college students. While most embrace the benefits of having educated young adults give back to our community, there are still some citizens like you who must lack complete logic and understanding.
As you abuse illogical stereotypes about HC students, I hope that college students do not follow suit. For people who commented negatively about Worcester, … Worcester has Holy Cross in its blood. The administration members and faculty that provide you with opportunities and an education also are a part of our city. There is a historical and complex two-way relationship between HC and Worcester that goes beyond today’s response to college drinking. The success of HC today may not be as independently gained as you think, there has been much (maybe not so obvious) support from your local surroundings. While you may be directly surrounded by struggling neighborhoods, you cannot be completely oblivious to some of the things Worcester has to offer. … .
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“Robert Burns”?
The World According the Rosie is a fascinating place.
(editor’s note: Yes, Burns is a Scottish poet BUT Celtic sooo ….)
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“Lifes a garden, dig it.” Joe Dirt