No school can be on the list "for years" as Playboy has only made a list of party schools two times in their history. I also heard that legend about my college years ago. See:
http://www.snopes.com/college/admin/playboy.htm
Since about 1955, rumors have been aired at every college in the country that Playboy had at one time run a survey of drinking on campus and that a particular school was listed as Number 1. As best as can be ascertained now, such a survey appeared in the pages of Playboy only twice, in its January 1987 issue and its November 2002 issue.
And from Playboy spokesperson:
According to Allison Lundgren, associate editor of Playboy, the magazine chose to hold the contest for the first time since 1987 because of the urban legends about the magazine's alleged annual school rank.
"Our public relations department gets a number of calls from students every week on when we're going to do another ranking," Lundgren said. "So we thought it was in high demand."
Theresa Hennessey, a public relations representative for Playboy, confirmed college students across the nation constantly call to find out where their school ranks.
"We get calls asking if we can confirm if they're on our list of party schools," Hennessey said. "It did turn into one of those urban legends. That's why we decided to do it again."
Here is the official list from 2002:
01. Arizona State
02. California State University, Chico
03. Rollins
04. Louisiana State
05. West Virginia
06. Colorado
07. Wisconsin
08. Connecticut
09. Kansas
10. San Diego State
11. Georgia
12. Ohio State
13. Iowa State
14. Florida State
15. Colorado State
16. Florida
17. Tulane
18. Washington State
19. East Carolina
20. Michigan State
21. Mississippi
22. University of California, Santa Barbara
23. Lehigh
24. Vanderbilt
25. James Madison
And from 1987:
01. California State University, Chico
02. University of Miami, Coral Gables
03. San Diego State University, San Diego
04. University of Vermont, Burlington
05. Slippery Rock University, Pennsylvania
06. University of Connecticut, Storrs
07. West Virginia University, Morgantown
08. Plymouth State College, Plymouth, New Hampshire
09. Mercer University, Macon, Georgia
10. University of Virginia, Charlottesville
11. State University of New York, Cortland
12. Colorado State University, Fort Collins
13. Arizona State University, Tempe
14. University of Nevada, Las Vegas
15. Boston University, Boston
16. Central Michigan University, Mount Pleasant
17. Southern Illinois University, Carbondale
18. Ball State University, Muncie, Indiana
19. Oklahoma State University, Stillwater
20. Central Connecticut State University, New Britain
21. University of Maryland, College Park
22. University of Mississippi, Oxford
23. West Georgia College, Carrollton
24. University of Texas, Austin
25. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge
26. University of Kansas, Lawrence
27. Kansas State University, Manhattan
28. Glassboro State College, Glassboro, New Jersey
29. University of Florida, Gainesville
30. Eastern Kentucky University, Richmond
31. University of Iowa, Iowa City
32. University of Oklahoma, Norman
33. Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island
34. Ohio University, Athens
35. University of Massachusetts at Amherst
36. University of Georgia, Athens
37. Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge
38. University of Missouri/Rolla
39. Reed College, Portland, Oregon
40. Fairhaven College, Bellingham, Washington
Bev Hamilton
It made his job very interesting that night trying to move around through all those drunk college co-eds. 
Well, leave it to Chico to make "the list" whether it be a real or imagined one. 
At least I think that's what they used to call it. Chico is so notorious for being a major party town... Madison Bear Garden... hee hee... what a riot that place is. 
It was getting so scary, (riots, etc) I think they started to ban a lot of the activities. It can be a pretty crazy little community, but I love it there. Despite it's wild rep, it's a pretty neat (and beautiful) little town and holds MANY memories for me. 
