If colleges want to cut down on underage drinking, then why isn’t there more of an effort to prevent these things from happening? Now, I’m not saying that all colleges are at fault, but at mine, it all depends on the situation.
Is it a violation of people’s privacy? Or could it be too much work for them?
Campus police, like all police, do not have infinite time and resources. Many times it’s just not high on their priorities list.
I think there’s often the attitude that if a party gets shut down at one location, another will spring up elsewhere. Given the limited resources of a university police department, they can’t keep track of everything. I think there’s an effort among universities (like mine) to encourage personal responsibility and safety rather than try to use force to solve the problem. Since the drinking age is pretty arbitrary if you’re old enough to be considered an adult in other respects (in Japan the drinking age is 20, in a lot of Europe it’s 18 or 19) and a lot of university students actually are over drinking age, I’m guessing universities are prioritizing cutting down on disruptive parties and dangerous levels of drinking rather than gutting the entire system.
@Mandalorian IMO, I’m actually glad that they don’t intervene as much because it’ll just take up their valuable time busting party after party. It’s also a waste of time as well. Even then, most people will just go somewhere else to party if it gets busted.
@GoatGirl19 You just read my mind.
The campus police can vary in quality and power from campus to campus, and depending on the city the school is located in. Some are not very empowered and give out tickets for riding your bike in the wrong place or throwing trash.
I was very impress with how the UC-Boulder campus cops handled a murder on campus. Better than the Boulder police who took over and trampled on all the evidence.
Campus police sometimes have more important priorities than shutting down every party. Think about how many parties must be going on simultaneously on a given weekend, then how people have grown to predict and anticipate cops, and all the other things that cops have to deal with. Plus parties themselves aren’t the primary problem, which is hard to patrol in itself, but it is underage drinking which is even more difficult.
During my time as a resident assistant, most RAs adopted the policy of: yes we are going to try and make sure people are not underage drinking/hosting ragers in their dorms, but as long as they are not putting themselves or others in danger, I am not going to stop every drunk person or stop people from going out on a Friday night.
Also comparatively at college students caught drinking, in comparison to underage people outside of college, have to deal with significantly less penalties and repercussions, and are often given just a warning.
@shawnspencer I think that’s true of every RA. It’s just a waste of time, unless if someone acts stupid, then get involved.
Another consideration is pragmatism. If they are very strict in shutting down parties (by the way, a good 1/3 or more of college students can legally drink), parties aren’t going to stop. They are likely to move off campus thereby increasing risks to students - DUI, possible sexual assaults, deaths or injuries due to excessive drinking, etc.