Cleric and writer Charles Caleb Colton once said, "Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery." This weekend, Brown became something else. We tossed the hipster frames and donned the bro shades. We exchanged the Polo Ralph Lauren cashmere for matching white tank tops. We stopped discussing gender spectrums and over-saturated our lexica with "dude" and "brah."
For one magical afternoon, we were no longer Brown University. We were united, we were whole and we may not have been sober. We were Brown State University. But was the imitation in the spirit of flattery - or mockery?
To be a state university, an institution must be publicly funded and subsidized by its home state. Thus, if Brown State University were to exist past the weekend, students would inevitably pay lower tuition but also likely receive less financial aid. But this cannot be the case for Brown State - after all, the University actually gives funds to Rhode Island instead of receiving them.
Being Brown State, even if for only a weekend, gives students a rare opportunity to imitate college as many may have always dreamt it. At large schools like Penn State and the University of Florida, Saturday gameday is considered by many students to be the highlight of the week.
This kind of raucous atmosphere is not something that Brown students often experience. At schools like Brown, students usually unite around important social and political causes. While this is admirable, we think that a healthy dose of supporting fellow students through a spirited, nationally televised football game is a perfect complement to the occasional doldrums of projects such as fighting for financial aid provision and encouraging divestment campaigns.
We believe that being Brown State University, aside from giving us an excuse to overindulge, actually provides Brown students a chance to reflect on just how different we are from a state school. While the University has many attributes that larger schools do not, it also lacks many positive qualities of a state school.
And though students love Brown's combination of top-notch research opportunities and a diverse liberal arts curriculum, students at larger schools carry a more intense, almost nationalistic pride for their school that we envy. These students wear their schools wherever they go. It's difficult to walk the streets of a random city and instantly recognize a fellow Brunonian by their Brown apparel - granted, the price of the apparel deserves an editorial in itself.
We do not have chants like Penn State's "WE ARE," nor do we have a universally recognized, and hummable, alma mater like Notre Dame's. Quite possibly the only way we would recognize a fellow Brunonian on the streets is if they ordered a "burger with" at restaurants.
We also need to ask the question of whether we're fairly representing state universities. The answer is no - we did not do these schools enough justice in our mock portrayal. If a stereotypical student from a state university observed us on Saturday, he or she might be confused by why we weren't pre-gaming at 6 a.m. and bewildered by our "sipping" of drinks. And we were dismayed by Brown State's lack of funny and original chants and cheers that are synonymous with any other "student section."
Brown State University was a fascinating social experiment that also made us think and appreciate more fully what it means to be a Brown student. We would also like to apologize and express gratitude to state universities for giving such a small school the honor to (poorly) emulate such an esteemed model of fellowship and spirit. Though Brown cannot possibly encapsulate every fathomable experience of the ideal college, we're still pretty happy where we are. Besides, regardless of whether we're Brown or Brown State, we'll always hate Harvard.
Editorials are written by The Herald's editorial page board. Send comments to editorials@browndailyherald.com.
