THE DEVILS’ PLAYGROUND SEVEN NEW TIMES STORIES FROM ASU’S WILDER DAYS. BY JENNIFER GOLDBERG G reetings, incoming Arizona State University students! Welcome to one of the largest universities in the U.S. — fifth largest, in fact, by enrollment, with more than 57,000 Sun Devils matricu- lating last year. We don’t know why you chose ASU. Perhaps it’s got a great program in your chosen field of study. Maybe you’re an Arizona native and you’re after that sweet in-state tuition. Or possibly, you just like being really, really hot. Whatever the reason, we feel like there are a few things you should know about your chosen school. You see, it wasn’t so many years ago that your “New American University,” packed to the brim with inno- vators, expensive new buildings and the air of respectability, was the Wild, Wild West of higher education. Co-ed porn stars, out-of-control frat parties, underwear brawls, STD rates that would make you go shopping for chastity belts on Amazon — earlier eras of life at ASU were a little crazier and a lot more fun. Sometimes, that crazy fun became crazy problematic. We’re guessing that you didn’t hear about any of this during your campus tour or student orientation, and we’re not surprised. But every former Sun Devil has a story or two about crazy campus antics, and a lot of them were chronicled on the Phoenix New Times website back in the day. So from the New Times archives, enjoy excerpts from these tales of debauchery to get a better sense of the history of your new academic home. And go Devils! ‘ASU POLICE NOT SURE WHETHER A BABY ACTUALLY DID A KEG-STAND’ Sept. 27, 2012 By Matthew Hendley (Note: The Dirty was a website that origi- nated in Scottsdale that put folks on blast for everything from pretending to have more money than they do to spreading STDs to sleeping with too many people. Think a TikTok tea page but much more vicious.) A baby tailgating at an Arizona State University football game was either chug- ging beer while doing a keg-stand or was subject to a photo-op, and the university’s police department is trying to figure it out. That photo was posted by someone on TheDirty.com, and not only did “Nik Richie” act like he was offended, but it has also caused a stink with the cops. The more important question for the cops, though, is who posted the photo to the website, presumably to help them find the parents. A university spokeswoman sent us the following statement: “ASU Police are looking into the posted photo. It’s not clear if this is a joke or an actual event that occurred. Police are contacting the website that displayed the photo to see if they can determine who posted it.” The odds would seem pretty low that several people standing around and giggling about force-feeding beer to a baby in public, but the cops are checking this one out. ‘IF YOU WERE SUCKER PUNCHED BY AN ASU WRESTLER, UNIVERSITY POLICE WOULD LIKE TO HAVE A CHAT’ May 17, 2011 By James King (Note: From 2008 to 2015, ASU hosted the annual Undie Run event, in which students would take off their clothes to donate them to charity, then race around the Tempe campus.) Authorities say the most serious offense with which they can charge two members of the Arizona State University wrestling team, seen attacking a man during the school’s annual “undie run,” is disorderly conduct. The problem: they can’t find the potential victim. ASU police Commander James Hardina tells New Times that the wres- tlers claim the attack on the mystery victim was self-defense, and unless authorities have someone to tell them otherwise, the only crime with which they can be charged is disorderly conduct for fighting in public. ‘STUDENTS FORM GROUP TO GET ASU BACK ON TOP OF PLAYBOY “PARTY-SCHOOL” LIST’ Jan. 28, 2010 By James King (Note: ASU’s status as the top party school in the country, coupled with some of the other stuff on this list, made us the butt of jokes made by everyone from “The Simpsons” to “The Daily Show.” Good thing the student body is so much more respectable today.) As you may recall, Arizona State University’s (ahem) prestigious “party school” image has been tarnished in recent years, as President Michael Crow continues his ruthless campaign against fun in his quest to create “The New American University.” As a result of Crow’s vicious blitzkrieg on students’ social lives, the Sun Devils fell to 15th on Playboy magazine’s list of the country’s top party schools. Fortunately, a group of more than 2,000 students aren’t going down without a fight and have turned to Facebook to help get ASU back on top. The Facebook group “Make ASU Playboy’s Top Party School” serves as a forum for students to post photos of them- selves partying, share suggestions about how to party better and advertise upcoming parties. In 2002, Playboy named ASU the number-one party school in the country, and these students are hoping to reclaim that former glory. ASU sophomore Chelsea Frank is a member of the group and calls Crow’s antics an act of “douche-baggery,” saying ASU needs to get back to its partyin’ roots. “I came out here from New York expecting to walk into an Asher Roth music video, because ASU was supposed to be a renowned party school,” Frank tells New Times. “What is this ‘New American University’ bullshit?’ We’re not god-damn Harvard or Yale!” ‘ASU FRATERNITY NAMED THE MOST OUT-OF-CONTROL FRAT IN AMERICA’ Aug. 29, 2013 By Matthew Hendley (Note: Yikes.) Congratulations to the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity at Arizona State University, which has just been named the “most out-of-control” frat in the United States of America. Rolling Stone magazine gave SAE (ΣΑΕ) the honor for its two high-profile incidents last year — the death of a pledge, and an extremely intoxicated frat member getting dumped at the hospital with a sticky note slapped on him. Last year, freshman Jack Culolias wandered off from a fraternity event after getting kicked out of the Cadillac Ranch bar the night of November 30. >> p 20
