After a photo of students crammed shoulder to shoulder at a backyard house party in Eugene went viral on Twitter, people online were either fuming or apathetic at the sight. Despite the COVID-19 guidelines, warnings and cautions issued by state and local authorities as well as UO, some students have continued to party.
The polarizing opinions of community members and students have gone back and forth since the beginning of the pandemic, aptly recorded by the Instagram account @covid.campus which posts UO- and Eugene-specific COVID-19 information and confessions submitted by students. So in the midst of all the back and forth, why exactly are students going out and partying?
To collect testimonies, I created a Google survey asking, “why are you partying?” and shared it across social media. I also walked around the western campus area putting up fliers with a scannable QR code to the survey. This survey included a disclaimer about no judgement, that fliers were put in certain locations because of reports of partying in the area and that responses would be used by me for this article. The survey asked students to state why they were partying and what year they were, with optional sections for names and other notes. It got a total of 61 submissions.
Students most often cited not wanting to waste the college experience or “continue living in fear,” or being vaccinated and feeling that the backlash against their behavior is unsubstantiated.
“I’m over this pandemic. I just want to have fun, and at the end of the day we all need to live our lives without having fear,” one senior submitted. “Yes, it’s important to think about other people, but sometimes you need to let loose and enjoy your last college experiences.”
Half of the people who filled out the survey said that they and others around them were fully vaccinated, with one saying that “anyone partying is clearly vaccinated.” Others added that because the vaccine rollout has been going on for some time now, “anyone who could die from covid has had the chance to be fully vaccinated by now.”
Other anonymous individuals admitted that they were not vaccinated but were still partying.
One junior detailed how they were living with roommates and finally started hosting and going to parties with “about 15 people,” even though they wouldn’t be fully vaccinated until the end of the month.
“Overall, many people may consider what I have been involved in is not safe, and I don’t necessarily disagree,” they wrote. “At the same time, I don’t attend large parties, which I consider over 20, and I try to be outside during them, and as I said, it has been a year with this pandemic and I am not going to live my life in fear.”
Many said that partying is the only thing that cures their loneliness and “makes the college experience feel at least a fraction of worth” throughout the last year. About a third of respondents who said they used partying to cure their loneliness had mixed feelings toward their own behavior.
“I don’t really party, but if I go out it’s because of the lack of social interactions and feeling as though time’s passing by and I haven’t met any new people in the last few years/months of my college experience,” one senior wrote. “This year in a pandemic has been hitting hard mental health-wise.”
One junior wrote they were vaccinated and lived alone, and they “feel the pressure to go out as others do it (mob mentality)” but “don’t feel good about partying.”
About half of the respondents expressed hostility, with some saying they don’t believe COVID-19 exists.
“I like to make memories and have a life,” another senior wrote. “You don’t want covid to end, because you have no life and you like to be controlled.”
Although the survey was directed at partiers, it did receive a few submissions from non-partiers. Their statements expressed a range of emotions from frustration for being heckled on the street for wearing masks to disdain at the conduct of their classmates.
“I am not partying, but went on a walk with my roommates for my birthday,” a senior wrote. “ I am disappointed and disgusted by all of the groups we saw. No one was wearing masks, and some made fun of us for wearing them. I literally had cancer, and do not understand how they can be so selfish.”
The Centers for Disease Control released new guidelines for fully vaccinated people stating that they can be maskless indoors with other vaccinated folks and in certain outdoor settings. The guidelines state that vaccinated people should still avoid large indoor gatherings, watch out for symptoms of COVID-19 and wear masks in large outdoor gatherings.
