As it turns out, I wasn't too far off, because Michigan has sometimes been described that way. But what happened in Ann Arbor at the home of the University of Michigan's President, Lee Bollinger, on Nov. 8 was more shocking than any coup d'Ètat in recent memory.

Get this: One thousand Michigan students just wanted to have a beer with their school's president. You know, just an ordinary, peaceful celebration of the Michigan football team's 34-8 shellacking of Penn State.

But even better, the president wanted to have a beer with the students. Yes, the university's highest-ranking official wanted to have a beer with them. I said it twice in case you didn't quite believe it the first time. I didn't.

Let's think about this for a second. Pretend you are Lee Bollinger. You just click off the tube after watching your boys get one of their biggest, most impressive wins this decade. (Games vs. Ohio State don't count because its a given that Michigan beats OSU, as was evidenced by this past Saturday's game.) You kiss the wife and get ready to turn in. Then out of the corner of your eye you just happen to see a few hundred students on your lawn, in your trees and on your porch.

Then you hear them chanting "We want Lee! We want Lee!"

If I were a university president I would think 1,000 students screaming for me from my front porch would want to have a not-so-nice discussion with me about something that angered them, perhaps a tuition hike.

But Lee Bollinger, in his wisdom, determined the students only wanted to hang with him. So he did what any good neighbor would do in such circumstances: He threw a bash. Students stuffed every room of the Bollinger house, even the bedroom where he and the wife had been watching football minutes before.

But the story gets better. Students stole nothing and broke nothing. Bollinger even told them to stay as long as they wanted.

The University of Michigan must have a different sense of community than UK.

The last time UK had a highly publicized on-campus victory celebration was after the national championship in 1996.

UK was represented well in "school spirit," too. If I recall correctly, a couple of things got stolen. A couple of things got broken Ö like a TV truck. Hey, a couple of people got naked, too.

Granted, UK's winning the NCAA tourney was more special than Michigan's beating PSU in football. But I have to say that Michigan students' celebration experience was special.

This doesn't mean the University of Michigan has a greater sense of community than UK. Just different.

For instance, could you imagine yourself racing up to 471 Rose St. after the next monumental UK victory? What about the spiked iron fence and brick walls that surround President Wethington's place?

"We want Charles Ö er, Chuck! Yeah, that's it. We want Chuck!"

Maybe you can imagine yourself doing this. But try finding 999 others who want to do this too Ö peacefully, that is.

I'm not yet an acquaintance of Dr. Wethington's, so I can't say for sure if he'd welcome a frenzied throng into his home. But I hypothesize that he probably wouldn't. I don't know any students who have seen the inside of his house, much less legally partied in his bedroom.

But I'm not entirely blaming Chuck -- which is what you'd have to call him if he let you drink beer with him. Recalling the post-game celebration after the 1996 national championship, I'd too be hesitant to let UK kids party in my house, especially with raised tuition on their minds.

On the other hand, Dr. Wethington does seem distant. With all due respect, he seems rather Ö well, presidential. I can't picture him hugging students in celebration like Lee Bollinger did. And I haven't heard students describe him, like Michigan students describe Bollinger, as "a great guy" and someone who "said he loved us all." But maybe he is, and maybe he does.

However, I, along with the majority of the rest of the student body, will probably never know the answer to that. And I will assuredly never party with Dr. Wethington. The sense of community at this University isn't the type that permits such action. That fact doesn't upset me. But it sure makes me consider with amazement the University of Michigan's party with their president.

Contributing Columnist Jeff Zurcher is an English and advertising senior.