Penn State parties were predictable

Some things are just so easy to predict. Who couldn’t have predicted students would party at Penn State if the campus opened in the middle of a pandemic?

It’s not hard to imagine many teens feeling their first taste of freedom will be tempted to break the rules.

It really didn’t take very long for the videos to light up social media. PennLive’s Matt Miller wasn’t the only person to see the videos showing “several dozen students dancing, jumping and twerking outside East Hall without masks and without the slightest attempt at social distancing.”

It only took two days for the freshmen to get busy. But they shouldn’t take all the blame. There were likely sophomores, juniors and seniors in the mix. And is it really hard to imagine a good many are convinced they won’t get sick from the coronavirus or doubt there even is one?

The young people acted just as they do everywhere . . . taking risks, ignoring warnings and partying all night long – without any thought to a pandemic that has killed hundreds of thousands around the world.

Ok, it’s not every 18-yearold. Some students really do devote long hours to solitary study and obeying rules. But it’s not hard to imagine many teens feeling their first taste of freedom will be tempted to break the rules.

It’s not their fault. The young people are not to blame. It’s the adults who should know better. School administrators are experts in student behavior. They see thousands of youth each year. They know exactly how kids act, and they had to know there would be videos of frenzied parties with young people spreading their droplets around with abandon.

Many professors are rightly concerned, especially because they are older, wiser and with underlying health conditions. Some of Penn State’s faculty and students opposed the decision to open the campus, believing it was too much of a risk for public safety. Seems they are right.

To try to contain things at Penn State, University President Eric Barron has issued a public rebuke and warned students the campus might have to close if the parties continue. But is it so hard to predict this — the parties will go on?

“Do you want to be the person responsible for sending everyone home?” Barron implored students, apparently hoping to spark some sort of conscience and responsible behavior in teenagers. Penn State also announced a “Mask Up or Pack Up” program, again to convince students – all of them — to follow the coronavirus rules.

Barron said he was impressed many students are maintaining social distancing as well as masking. No doubt, many are. But it only takes a few giddy kids to spread the coronavirus and infect the more mature ones who obey the rules. And from the looks of those videos, it’s more than a few who, predictably, could spread COVID-19 throughout the Penn State campus and beyond.

Penn State is in the spotlight now. But it’s not just Penn State that has to deal with the utterly predictable behavior of youth. It’s every college and university that has decided to act in its own economic interests and let students return to campus.

“Yeah, psu is gonna get shut down in a week,” one person quipped on social media after viewing the videos. That’s what happened at other colleges that decided to reopen earlier. They had to close within weeks. It’s just so easy to understand why many are predicting the same for Penn State.