WVU SLIPS ON PARTY TIME LIST - No. 1 For Couch Burning

(08/24/2005)

West Virginia has a reputation for dropping down on lists. Now, WVU has dropped 10 notches in one year to number 14 on the list of the nation's best party schools. The top school on the list is the University of Wisconsin-Madison, followed by Ohio University in Athens and Lehigh University. Number 14 isn't all that bad. But surely WVU will rank #1 for couch burning, with the school's penchant for setting fires to celebrate everything from the return to school to football victories. Brigham Young University led "stone cold sober" schools for the eighth straight year. The annual list is put together by the Princeton Review. It's based on online surveys of more than 110,000 college students. They're asked about alcohol and drug use, hours of study each day, and the number of students in fraternities and sororities. WVU has routinely made the party school rankings, topping the list in 1997. New street fires were reported in Morgantown as students returned to school recently. Morgantown Fire Chief Dave Fetty says three weekend fires were intentionally set, but he doesn't know who started them. Fire officials say someone set a couch and bags of garbage on fire in Sunnyside on Saturday. Morgantown Fire Lieutenant Jay Bolyard says the fire spread to a nearby 1983 Dodge Ram pickup, costing about one-thousand dollars in damage. Later that day, a kitchen chair and cardboard boxes were set on fire in Wiles Hill. On Sunday, heaps of particle board were set on fire near Woodburn. About 31 people have been cited for illegal burning in the city since January.

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