Biola University was named the tamest party school in all of California by students registered with College Prowler. In a College Prowler survey that has been ongoing since 2009, Biola recently beat out 64 different private and state universities to earn first on the list — and has continued to stay there.
Other Christian universities make list
“‘The Tamest Party Scene subranking list was created from responses to the ‘What is the party scene like on campus?’ question from our survey. According to our results, 79 percent of Biola’s students responded to that question with ‘Parties? What parties?’ which resulted in its top spot on the list,” said Amy Campbell, managing editor of the College Prowler editorial staff.
Other private Christian universities also made the list of Top Ten Schools with the Tamest Party Scene, including Azusa Pacific University, which came in second place, Vanguard University of Southern California, which came in eighth, and The Master’s College, which came in ninth.
“In this economy, people are less willing to pay $40,000 a year to just party it off. People don’t want to waste their lives,” said Garret Suhr, the Stewart Hall resident director.
Students’ opinions on party scenes
Community and academics also play a role in keeping the party scene at Biola tame, suggested Lydia Huelskamp, a Biola sophomore communications major.
Some students had different opinions on why their school made the College Prowler Tamest Party Scene list.
“I think the reasons [for APU making the list] are super relative. There is significant spiritual mentoring at APU and I think people that came in [wanting to party] changed in their first year,” said Taylor Wright, an APU senior and youth ministries major.
While the party scene at The Master’s College is usually isolated to parties thrown by students from a nearby community college, most Master’s students choose not to participate in off-campus parties at all because of Master’s strict disciplinary code and high standards of integrity, Bernice Ecurb, a junior biology major at Master’s said.
While Ecurb said it was more of an individual’s decision not to attend parties, denomination may play a part in why Vanguard ranked in the top 10 tamest schools, said Chazja Stamps, a sophomore communications major at Vanguard. Stamps thinks Vanguard’s ties to the Assemblies of God denomination and adherence to a strict disciplinary code helped put Vanguard on the list of tamest party schools.
Spiritual growth priority for students
Students choose to attend Biola for the Christian community and to learn about Christ, according to Suhr.
“God is at work here and that is irrefutable. People are choosing Biola not because they have to, but because they want to — they want the experience,” Suhr said.
“People do not come here to party. They come here to develop in community, stretch themselves academically and grow spiritually,” Huelskamp said.
