University of Iowa makes Playboy’s top party school list

IOWA CITY - After a home football Saturday that saw a bump in arrests and alcohol-related citations, the University of Iowa this week emerged on another party-school list - this time one published by Playboy Magazine.

The list, which places Iowa at No. 5, is based on a variety of factors - including access to night life and musical events and 'creativity when planning social gatherings.” Playboy's editors also consider information from the National Center for Education Statistics, the NCAA, and the U.S. Economic Census in creating the list.

This is Playboy's ninth time issuing a party-school list - the magazine's first 'Top 40 Party Colleges” appeared in 1987 with California State University-Chico earning top honors. The list reappeared in 2002 and again in 2006, and Playboy has listed its top party schools every year since 2009, when UI came in at No. 9.

Rounding out the top five in this year's Playboy party-school rankings is the University of Pennsylvania at No. 1, followed by the University of Wisconsin, West Virginia University, University of Arizona, and UI.

Last month, UI was ranked No. 2 on the Princeton Review's 2015 party-school list. It had been crowned the top party school in the nation last year, for the 2014 list, but UI was dethroned on this year's list by Syracuse University, a private university in New York.

Following the Princeton Review's party-school rankings in August, UI President Sally Mason said in a statement that 'high-risk drinking poses a risk to the health and safety of college students, and it jeopardizes their academic success.”

'This is a problem at colleges and universities across the country,” Mason said in the statement. 'Here at Iowa, we take the issue serious, and we have been working hard to address it.”

Over the weekend, during Saturday's intrastate rival game against Iowa State University, UI police issued eight tickets for underage drinking, 12 tickets for open container in public, and officers made 20 arrests, including 13 people who were taken from a holding cell at Kinnick Stadium to the Johnson County Jail.

All of the arrests involved alcohol.

During the previous week's home football game against Ball State University, UI police issued no tickets for underage drinking, 10 for open container, and officers made 10 arrests. During the season's home-opener against the University of Northern Iowa on Aug. 30, UI police issued three tickets for underage drinking, no tickets for open container, and officers made three arrests.