CAMPUS

Drinking Age and Dry Campuses

To be perfectly honest, I’m really torn about the issue.  One the one hand, I’ve read that increasing the drinking age has significantly lowered alcohol-related fatalities.  On the other, the raised drinking age has created an underbelly of rampant and flagrant underage alcohol abuse.  The government essentially has placed a taboo on drinking—making it all the more appealing to young adults.  However, this stigma is not entirely the fault of our government.  American culture is traditionally more conservative and puritanical than its European counterpart.  So what is to be done of this apparent epidemic?

Many university administrators have tired of students flagrantly ignoring policies regarding alcohol. On my Berry College campus in particular, student drinking is a recurring topic discussed in the Campus Carrier. And from my personal experience, I have had a few friends store alcohol in their dorm apartments. However, my experience is slightly different because those friends at Berry were all of drinking age. They were merely choosing to ignore Berry’s dry policies. As a 24 year old living on a dry campus, I feel this to be incredibly restricting. It’s like I’m 18 all over again.

One day, I received a school survey asking students what should come of an unused barn on campus. The administrative survey provided some pretty mediocre/lame options: another coffee shop, a sports hang out, or a dance club. I was struck by the missed opportunity to better monitor the drinking situation on campus and to keep students safe—refurbish the barn into a bar. Could offering a wet campus be one alternative to the nominal restrictions placed on underage youths? Would this keep them more stationed on campus as opposed to driving around town looking for a house that provides copious amounts of “no questions asked” booze? This is one of problems associated with the prohibition of alcohol. Many students get into their cars after drinking simply because they are unable (or unwilling) to do so on campus. This is characteristic of underage youths because they have to seek out someone who will provide them with alcohol. Providing a wet campus might be a viable alternative to diminishing many alcohol related accidents and fatalities.