Green Beer Day
{{short description|Traditional party at Miami University in Oxford, OH, USA}}
Green Beer Day (GBD) is an unofficial day-long party near the Miami University campus, where celebrants drink beer dyed green with artificial coloring or natural processes. The tradition was started by bar owners in Oxford, Ohio, and is celebrated annually on the Thursday before Miami University's spring break. Green Beer Day started in the early 1980s after a change in Miami University's academic calendar caused St. Patrick's Day to fall during spring break when students were gone. Local bar owners tried various names for their new day of drinking (including "Wild Irish Fun" in 1981){{Cite news|date=March 10, 1981|title=Wild Irish Fun . . .Uptown Oxford|page=6|work=Miami Student|url=https://digital.lib.miamioh.edu/digital/collection/student/id/4518/rec/51}} before settling on the name "Green Beer Day" in 1982.{{Cite news|date=March 9, 1982|title=Green Beer Day at CJ's: Special Drink Prices All Thursday|page=7|work=Miami Student|url=https://digital.lib.miamioh.edu/digital/collection/student/id/2331/rec/96}} Claims that Green Beer Day began in 1952 are wrong. Green beer was consumed in Oxford on St. Patrick's Day (March 17){{Cite news|date=March 14, 1952|title=Loyal Irish and Others Join to Honor Good Saint Patrick|work=Miami Student}} prior to the university calendar change just as it was all over the country. Green Beer Day has been called Miami University's "biggest tradition"{{cite news|url=http://www.miamistudent.net/opinion/hunt-embodies-miami-spirit-1.1169409|title="Hunt" embodies Miami spirit|last=Schneider|first= Brett|date=February 22, 2010|newspaper=The Miami Student|access-date=March 3, 2010|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100301163050/http://www.miamistudent.net/opinion/hunt-embodies-miami-spirit-1.1169409|archive-date=March 1, 2010}} although it is not sanctioned by the university.{{cite web|url=https://www.wcpo.com/news/education/higher-education/miami-u-news/police-surprise-miami-students-on-green-beer-day-with-ovi-checkpoint|title=Police surprise Miami students on Green Beer Day with OVI checkpoint|last=Harper|first= Briana|date=March 16, 2017|publisher=WCPO|access-date=January 24, 2018}}
Tradition
Students begin to drink at 12 A.M. on Green Beer Day;{{cite news|last=Caskey|first=Liz|date=February 25, 2010|title=Are you smarter than a leprechaun? GBD trivia!|newspaper=The Miami Student|url=http://www.miamistudent.net/amusement/are-you-smarter-than-a-leprechaun-gbd-trivia-1.1175772|url-status=dead|access-date=March 3, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100301160843/http://www.miamistudent.net/amusement/are-you-smarter-than-a-leprechaun-gbd-trivia-1.1175772|archive-date=March 1, 2010}}{{cite web|url=http://www.oxfordpress.com/news/oxford-news/oxford-preparing-for-green-beer-day-573917.html?showComments=true|title=Oxford preparing for "green beer day"|author=Williams, Ariana|date=March 1, 2010|publisher=The Oxford Press|access-date=March 3, 2010|archive-date=July 16, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716142213/http://www.oxfordpress.com/news/oxford-news/oxford-preparing-for-green-beer-day-573917.html?showComments=true|url-status=dead}} bars in Oxford open at 5 A.M.{{cite web|url=https://www.espn.com/espn/page2/story?page=fleming/090416|author=Fleming, David|title=The hot highs and cold lows of the Frozen Four|date=April 20, 2009|publisher=ESPN|access-date=March 4, 2010}} Many students embark on their first successful entrepreneurial venture on Green Beer Day, selling iconic green shirts to drink in throughout the day. The rise in popularity of this annual celebration has given rise to many pop up apparel companies that sell Green Beer Day apparel in the weeks leading up to the event.{{Cite web|url=http://www.greenbeerdaycompany.com/|title=The Green Beer Day Company|access-date=December 1, 2016|archive-date=January 25, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180125015250/https://greenbeerdaycompany.com/|url-status=dead}}
University and City of Oxford response
Miami University actively tries to fight Green Beer Day's binge drinking culture and encourages instructors to remove students who arrive to class inebriated on the day. While Miami students recognize Green Beer Day, Miami threatened legal action against the owner of the domain www.greenbeerday.com for using the Miami name without permission.{{cite news|url=http://www.miamistudent.net/2.8194/green-beer-day-tradition-ought-to-be-perpetuated-1.1156040|title=Green Beer Day tradition ought to be perpetuated|date=April 26, 2005|newspaper=The Miami Student|access-date=March 3, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100314151215/http://www.miamistudent.net/2.8194/green-beer-day-tradition-ought-to-be-perpetuated-1.1156040|archive-date=March 14, 2010|url-status=dead}} Miami changed its timing of its Spring Break in 2009, allowing students to celebrate both Green Beer Day and St. Patrick's Day; when asked if the change was intended to allow Miami students to celebrate twice, Steve Snyder, the executive assistant to the President of the university, responded, "Miami University has nothing whatsoever to do with Green Beer Day."{{cite news|url=http://www.miamistudent.net/2.8198/painting-the-town-green-1.1148918|author=Segell, Tom|title=Painting the town green|date=February 20, 2009|newspaper=The Miami Student|access-date=March 3, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100309073427/http://www.miamistudent.net/2.8198/painting-the-town-green-1.1148918|archive-date=March 9, 2010|url-status=dead}} In 2017, Ohio State Highway Patrol and four other police agencies conducted OVI stops and the Oxford Police Department plainclothes operations to stop underage drinkers.
After the death of a student in 2017 from alcohol-related issues, Miami University President Gregory Crawford met with community leaders to combat binge drinking culture in preparation for Green Beer Day.{{cite web|url=https://www.wcpo.com/news/education/higher-education/miami-u-news/green-beer-day-goes-on-at-miami-university-with-some-safety-modifications|title=Miami University students carry on with Green Beer Day despite city, school's safety modifications|author=WCPO Staff|date=March 15, 2017|publisher=WCPO|access-date=January 24, 2018}} Oxford liquor license holders agreed to open fewer bars early in the morning, and fraternities agreed to avoid serving hard liquor at parties. Before Green Beer Day, Miami's student government launched a campaign called "Life is Priceless" encouraging students to call 911 and highlighting Miami's Good Samaritan policy.{{cite news|url=https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/2017/03/17/death-doesnt-stop-green-beer-day-miamis-drinking-culture-persists/98949562/|title=Death doesn't stop Green Beer Day: Miami's drinking culture persists|author=Murphy, Kate|date=March 17, 2017|newspaper=Cincinnati Enquirer|access-date=January 24, 2018}}
Students have criticized the university for refusing to recognize one of its biggest traditions, and the Miami Student editorial board has criticized the university for trying to destroy it as a yearly event.{{cite news|url=http://www.miamistudent.net/amusement/the-three-rounds-of-green-beer-day-1.1175769|title="Hunt" embodies Miami spirit|author=Schneider, Brett|date=February 22, 2010|newspaper=The Miami Student|access-date=March 3, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100301045420/http://www.miamistudent.net/amusement/the-three-rounds-of-green-beer-day-1.1175769|archive-date=March 1, 2010|url-status=dead}} Miami alumni have begun to celebrate the event in other cities, with an especially large event occurring annually in Chicago, Illinois.{{cite news|url=http://www.miamistudent.net/2.8198/graduates-celebrate-green-beer-day-in-chicago-1.1148812|author=Bernard, Noëlle|title=Graduates celebrate Green Beer Day in Chicago|date=March 3, 2009|newspaper=The Miami Student|access-date=March 3, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100308034917/http://www.miamistudent.net/2.8198/graduates-celebrate-green-beer-day-in-chicago-1.1148812|archive-date=March 8, 2010|url-status=dead}}