EDITORIAL & OPINION: Hoping for sunny blue skies

We hope students party and drink responsibly over this Spring Fling weekend. Rain or shine, and we're crossing our fingers and praying for blue skies, we hope students enjoy Penn's annual kick back and cut loose weekend, Spring Fling '99. We encourage students to check out the unprecedented array of non-alcoholic activities: a barbeque on College Green, the wildly popular pancake breakfast and SPEC's panoply of musical events. Starting with yesterday's performance of Beethoven's 5th Symphony by the Curtis Youth Symphony Orchestra, SPEC has done a fantastic job of bringing a wide range of music to campus for the weekend. Tonight is the annual Fling concert, "Old School, New School, No School!!!" featuring the Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Run DMC, D Generation and Wailing Souls. Sunday at Annenberg, jazz great Joshua Redmond closes out the weekend. And in between, a full line-up of campus performing arts groups will be on stage all day today and tomorrow in the Quadrangle. Of course, for many students, alcohol is an integral part of Fling and that is well and good. But wherever you and your favorite drink end up -- and, of course, we address this only to students who are of age -- be sure to drink responsibly. This is a chance for students to show the administration that they are capable of consuming alcohol responsibly and it is a chance for students to show that they can take care of their friends. We hope students seize that opportunity. And we hope that law enforcement officials act in a responsible fashion as well. An overbearing presence over the course of the weekend risks damaging the progress made in recent meetings of the provost's task force on alcohol policy. Equally, however, students bear responsibility for not inciting law enforcement officials. Simply put, the law is the law, and students should be conscious of the consequences if they choose to act illegally in public view. But enough with our pedantic paternalism. It's time to party, and there are options a-plenty. So take in tonight's concert. Stop by the Quadrangle carnival. Stick around for some of the shows by campus performing arts groups. Set aside the schoolbooks. It's time to come out and play. We hope you all have a great Fling. Party responsibly, keep an eye on your friends and enjoy.