USF students should be glad they’re not students in Boston. While parties celebrating the Super Bowl are being staged across the country, Boston’s mayor urged Boston-area liquor stores to limit alcohol sales to students and suggested that students should be expelled if they “rioted.” Considering the riots that erupted when the Boston Red Sox won the World Series, it is understandable the city is hoping to prevent similar incidents from occurring again. But the blame should not be put entirely on students for following what has become national tradition.

The Super Bowl has long been an excuse to party and get drunk. As the pre-game shows are becoming longer by the year, so are the parties.

Advertising is a big part of the event. Clips shown during the game cost millions, and advertisers compete aggressively to outperform each other in originality and cleverness. The products being sold range from computers to clothing to practically everything else and, naturally, also include alcohol. Alcohol has therefore become an integral part of an event that in some cases it only marginally has anything to do with.

So why are students being singled out? Granted, members of their age group are likely to have a party, but why point the finger at them while the rest of the nation is likely to do the same come Super Bowl Sunday?

To trust liquor stores to turn away customers that bring in money to their businesses does not solve the problem the mayor appears to see. It will take more than instructions handed down by a mayor to change the nature of the celebrations. It’s hardly fair to point the finger at students while the rest of the country is as likely to also stumble around in a drunken stupor. To convince students that this is not the proper way to act, maybe adults should present themselves as better role models. Only then would they have the right to complain about student behavior.