I stared at my computer in amazement -- 4,189 Penn State students had united in support of a cause in which they believed.

Protesting never-ending tuition hikes? No. Political, religious or humanitarian activism? Not exactly.

More than 4,000 students pledged their dedication on Facebook to try to "move St. Patrick's Day," or, more accurately, push State College bars to open in the morning and dish out green beer on March 2.

The schedule change in this year's academic calendar will cause the real St. Patrick's Day, March 17, to fall over spring break. This change has been recognized as a positive one by the Penn State administration and borough officials -- and, for once, I think they've got something right.

Last St. Patrick's Day, police responded to 167 calls. There were 76 arrests. Ten students were hospitalized for alcohol poisoning. A Penn State freshman fell from his sixth floor dorm room after celebrating. Eight DUI arrests were made -- a chilling statistic when one thinks about the devastating loss of life that can and has occurred recently in State College as a result of just one of the DUI accidents.

Last year's Collegian also reported a woman falling on her face and knocking out her teeth and a man grabbing a tree to avoid falling into passing traffic. A man was found unconscious in a bush, and another in a McDonalds. A party at a fraternity was shut down after cops responded to two different instances of couples having sex outside the house.

Sounds like a celebration worthy of a saint, doesn't it?

That's what the creators of the "Official Group to Move Saint Patrick's Day 2007" say. On the Web site, they say their goal is to "keep alive the spirit of St. Patty's Day." What is that spirit exactly?

First and foremost, Saint Patrick's Day is a religious holiday, most notably in the Roman Catholic Church, that celebrates the life of a saint. St. Patrick was not from Ireland and was not initially religious. As a teenager, he was taken away from his Roman family's home in Wales and sold into slavery in Ireland. During his slavery, he began to turn to God in prayer. He escaped captivity, walked 200 miles to the Irish coast and took a boat back home.

His journey wasn't over. Patrick dreamed an angel told him to return to Ireland as a missionary. He participated in religious training and returned to Ireland to convert the largely pagan country.

He spent 33 years setting up schools, churches and monasteries and converting thousands to Christianity. He was arrested, chained, jailed and narrowly avoided being killed. Patrick later died in County Down, the location of the first church he set up in the country.

March 17 is the date St. Patrick's Day is celebrated because it is the date of his death in 461 A.D. It does not fall on an arbitrarily chosen day of the year. You can't just "move" St. Patrick's Day. I know, I know: How dare he die on March 17, infringing upon our right to "get tipsy" in his honor with our friends?

You'd never know it by the nature of State College celebrations, but St. Patrick wasn't some fun character who hung out with leprechauns, chased gold coins and got his Guinness on. In real life, he practiced acts of self-denial, slept on a rock, wore rough, plain clothing and risked his life to procure God's blessings for the people of Ireland.

In Ireland, the day is a religious celebration of the conversion of the Irish to Christianity. Until recently, there were rarely any secular celebrations or parades at all. In fact, up until the 1970s, it was illegal for pubs to even be open on St. Patrick's Day. It was only in 1995 that the Irish government decided to hold St. Patrick's Day celebrations intended to showcase Irish culture.

Even today, many businesses are closed. People attend church services and greet each other by saying "Beannachtaí na Féile Pádraig oraibh," or "May the blessings of St. Patrick be with you." Pilgrims travel to Croagh Patrick, or Saint Patrick's Mountain. A traditional meal of boiled potatoes and cabbage mashed together with butter, known as "colcannon" is eaten. Gaelic is generally spoken more in the week surrounding the holiday. People wear live sprigs of shamrock, representing the legend that St. Patrick used the shamrock to explain the "three-in-one" principle of the Trinity.

In Ireland, these simple cultural celebrations cannot be taken for granted. They represent centuries of painful struggles, tension and violence between Irish Protestants and Irish Catholics. In fact, laws have at times forbidden people from speaking their language, practicing their religion, wearing green and displaying the shamrock.

On St. Patrick's Day it's obvious how far the acceptance of Irish culture has come in this country. Following the Great Potato Famine in the 1840s, poor, uneducated Irish Catholics came to America to escape starvation and were met with resentment from the Protestant majority. 'Help wanted' signs declared "No Irish Need Apply." When they took to the streets to celebrate their heritage, they were often depicted as brawling drunks in newspaper cartoons. This is a drastic contrast to today's practice of Irish and non-Irish alike coming together to celebrate.

Irish Americans should use this day to learn about their culture and not to behave in a way that perpetuates negative "brawling drunk" stereotypes that their ancestors worked so hard to overcome. After all, Ireland's tradition of closing pubs proves St. Patrick's Day at its core has nothing to do with drinking.

Those "Irish for a day" are appreciating another culture and, hopefully, having fun. Try ham and cabbage - corned beef and hash for the more daring. Listen to our music. Catch some traditional step dancing. Any opportunity to walk in another person's shoes is good, but you'll learn and enjoy it a lot more if you're taking the walk without beer goggles.

If you still just want to drink green beer in excess, go right ahead. Just don't blame it on St. Patrick. And don't claim to be "celebrating" a nationality and a religious feast that you are over-simplifying and insulting.