Bring the following assignment to class on Monday, September 6, and be prepared to read it to the class or to tell about your response to the group. You must turn the assignment in at the end of class and without prior permission you may not turn it in late. This counts as one of the short paper assignments. Each short paper assignment makes up 5% of your grade. The paper should be about three pages long, double spaced and typed. If it is a bit longer or a bit shorter, that is OK as long as you do the job well.

The following are two situations described by Bucknell students in which they found themselves confronting role conflicts in social situations. Write about one of them. In your paper, tell whether you think that the dilemmas they perceived are ones that you think are real for you. Also tell what you would do in each situation and explain your reasoning.

Situation #1---The Team Celebration

I am a freshman and I was recruited to Bucknell to play my team sport. I'm pretty serious about it and I've been playing on my town team and my school teams since I was about ten years old. As I understand it, Bucknell has had a long history of not winning in this sport. But last year we got a new coach and he seems to have brought a new attitude and some great coaching approaches to the team. We also have some senior leaders who told me that they thought the team had not been serious. Some teams in some sports are mostly social clubs. People do not work out very hard and they are not committed to improving personal skills or really to win. They want a fun college experience, a bunch of people to hang out with, and they like the idea of being athletes. These seniors told me that they meant to change our team culture. We were going to be serious about being in shape, about learning and working together as a team, and about winning. That all sounds great to me!

Now this team lost all twelve of their matches last year and we've been really terrible. This year we started the fall and worked really hard. The coach was pretty tough with us so it has not been easy. Last Thursday we had our first match of the year against Lehigh. They were really tough last year and I don't think Bucknell has beaten them in about five years. Well, this year things have changed and we really took it to them. We won big! That was just great and everyone was really satisfied that after all the work and discipline we've put in it paid off.

In the locker room after the game a junior came up to me and said, "Come over to my place tonight and we'll show you Bucknell celebrates!" The coach had given us Friday off and we didn't have a weekend practice. I also have a class schedule where I don't have anything much to do on Friday, so I went on over. I got there about 9 pm and stayed for a couple of hours. I don't suppose I have to tell you that there was a lot of beer and people were having a pretty good time. I liked being with the team but drinking isn't really my thing so I mostly carried a glass around and had a good time with my friends.

This was not just a team party, of course, and there were a lot of girls there and some other guys who were not part of the team. A bunch of the girls were other first year students that I knew from my dorm. As things got rolling, I noticed that one of the girls on my hall was getting kind of drunk. We have a group from the dorm that includes guys and girls and we eat meals together most days so I know this girl pretty well and some other girls from our group were at this party.

Anyway, as things went along that junior guy who invited me to the party started hitting on this girl a lot. She seemed to be into it. She was dancing in front of the group and seemed to like looking sexy and showing off. He was trying to get her to go upstairs with him and it looked like it was just a matter of time before she would do that.

I was talking with two of the girls from our dining group and we talked about how our friend often had said she was nervous about how parties worked and she really didn't want to get into a situation where she would regret doing things. Here she was, just in that situation she had envisioned. So we got to talking about whether that was OK and whether we should do anything. I suggested to the girls that they ought to get her to go to the bathroom with them and then take her home.

Here's the question. Should this guy have done that or was that interfering with the good time his older friend and the girl seemed to be having? Students have given me the "technical term" for what he did: cock blocking. They said he was certain never to be invited to a party again. Is this situation the girl's choice and responsibility so others should not interfere? Or is this a group responsibility and should friends protect each other?

Situation #2---Friends Partying with Friends.

The second situation is really an outgrowth of the first. The girls in the story above are good friends and as first year students they have heard a lot about drinking and hooking up and getting into situations where guys push sex on girls that they do not want. An older girl who is part of a sorority these first years admire had invited them to come to this party celebrating the team victory. It sounded exciting because they wanted to meet some older students and be part of a party that did not just have first years. So they decided to go.

But before leaving for the party, the three girls who were part of the dinner group talked together and decided that they would back each other up. They would watch what each other were doing and if one of them seemed to be drinking too much, they'd try to stay close to her. Further, they agreed that they would all leave together. That meant that if they found a guy they really liked, they would not go away with him. Instead, they'd go home with their friends and plan to connect with the guy later on another day.

At the party, the two friends noticed that the third was indeed drinking a lot and that she was acting in a way they thought was stupid and provocative. Sure enough, this big shot athlete spotted her and started dancing with her. Their friend seemed to really like him and liked being the center of attention. They got her alone for a little while and told her to cool it and also reminded her that they were all supposed to go home together. She was angry and told them she was having a good time and knew what she was doing. They should leave her alone.

Then this guy who is in their eating group and who is on the team approached them and said he was worried. He suggested that they take the girl to the bathroom and then just get her out of there. What should these girls do?