Will Students Get ‘Shmacked’ at Gasparilla This Year

Students at the University of Michigan are featured in an "I'm Schmacked" YouTube video. Photo courtesy of YofrayFilms/Youtube.com

EDITOR’S NOTE: The original print edition of this article misidentified the authorities responsible for overthrowing the “Shmacked” documentary. It was the Office of Student Conduct and Orientation, not the Office of Residence Life.

The popular idea of having “I’m Shmacked” at the University of Tampa for the Gasparilla parade in February was overthrown by Student Conduct last Wednesday. “I’m Shmacked” is a documentary that records social scenes of different universities from all around the country.Mike Allen, a freshman studying biology and six other students attending UT promoted the idea by creating the Facebook group “I’m Shmacked at UT Gasparilla.”

Prior to making the group, Allen and his friends read a Tweet written by the producers of “I’m Shmacked,” saying that they would come to any school that got at least 3,000 students to join a group on Facebook inviting them. Allen then contacted the producer who made the visit definite.

The producers choose one student from each school to follow for at least three days, highlighting the diversity shown at different schools. The three to five minute clips of each school films students binge drinking, doing drugs, having sexual encounters, performing keg-stands, attending raves and concerts and screaming, “I’m Shmacked!”
Some of these videos have featured the University of Michigan, Temple University, University of Miami, Syracuse University, University of Pennsylvania, West Virginia University and many more.

Mary Jo Desprez, the administrator at the collegiate recovery program at the University of Michigan said, “These kinds of images of partying in college limit students’ imagination of what fun can be without drugs and drinking. It glorifies alcohol, especially as they are not just sitting casually around a keg but pouring bottles of vodka down their throat,” quoted in a New York Times article regarding the viral videos.

After the Facebook group was made, it only took a matter of days for the member numbers to reach 3,000. Mike Allen was surprised to see the numbers skyrocket in such a short span of time. “I didn’t even think we would get that many people that fast,” he said.

On Wednesday, Sept. 28, all of the creators of the group received an email from Student Conduct, informing them that all of the admen were required to attend a meeting regarding their group. When they were brought in, faculty of Student Conduct told the students that after watching the videos, they decided they did not want UT to be affiliated with the documentary or any of the schools that had been featured by them in the past. The office of Student Conduct and Orientation was tempted to charge them with Article 1 of the student conduct (Personal Integrity), but in the end decided only to ask them to delete the group.

Just after 4:30 p.m. that day, Allen wrote in the group, “Hey everyone I regret to inform you but we were written up for the group by [student conduct] and asked to delete it so at 7 p.m today I am deleting the group I am sorry.”

Brett Hodgins, a student at UT who joined the Facebook group voiced his opinion on the overall impact of “I’m Shmacked,” saying, “I don’t think it would’ve affected the school at all. We’re already going to be taking pictures and videos and putting them on Facebook and YouTube anyway. What difference does it make if professionals do the hard work?” He then talked about the group getting deleted by saying, “I was disappointed but not because the group was deleted. It was more because I felt that my right to peacefully petition to a third party was partially infringed upon.”

Even with all of the negative aspects of the videos, they have also helped students decide what school is right for them. While school has always been meant for working hard to graduate with a degree, many students are looking for the “college experience” and are trying to make it a point to go somewhere they socially belong. These viral videos show them what they are in for.

Vin Andriotti, another previous member of the UT Facebook group, said, “Just gave me another reason why campus strictness is a bit too high, nothing wrong with a few guys with a camera videotaping what will happen regardless.”

With the different opinions that students and faculty have at UT, Hodgins has the idea of creating a petition to the school to reopen the group.

Kirby Jay  can be contacted at Kirby.Jay@spartans.ut.edu.