Obviously a lot of it isn’t harmful, but it’s still illegal. And sometimes it is harmful.
My University’s policy seems to be to educate people about potential dangers, but otherwise ignore the drinking unless someone is hurt, and provide services like student escorts to keep people safe. They do notify parents if students are arrested, which I think is a good idea.
But I think if they really want to reduce underage drinking even more, there should be stronger enforcement. Maybe they should encourage the local police force to do more searches of off campus apartments during peak party times. Maybe their should be stiffer penalties for underage drinking.
What are some policies that have worked to reduce underage drinking on your campus or your kid’s campus?
Kids are gonna drink. Most often, it’s like “It’s Friday night, what do you wanna do?” Answer: “I dunno, do you wanna party?”
I think more universities should provide alternate activities that derail what leads to the drinking behavior.
By lowering the drinking age to 18 or 19.
You’re going about this the wrong way. Just go back to prohibition to see that banning alcohol or anything to that effect of more stringent punishment will just force people to go to even more shady avenues. If people are afraid of punishment then they just don’t report when things go wrong while using alcohol. This leads to bad situation getting much worse very quickly.
From the legal aspect, you can say that it is the law and leave it at that, but a real discussion should be taking place as to whether it is a just law and whether people should have to obey unjust laws. Why is it just to regulate what people put in their bodies? I understand drunk driving and public intoxication and assault that could be the result of intoxication should all be illegal, but what about a single person using substances in a way that affects no one but that person? Then it just becomes the job of society to educate that person about how the substance should be used in moderation as opposed in excess and provide ways to help people who become addicted without incarceration or punishment. This is what your school seems to be doing and I think most of the policies you listed are good ones except for the one about calling the student’s parents. I think at eighteen you become the sole arbitrator of your actions and should be independent of your parents without extraordinary circumstances (even though most choose not to be). Then this just serves as public shaming which is a devious tactic to say the least.
Basically, my thinking is that underage drinking shouldn’t be a crime in and of itself and “cracking-down” on underage drinking leads to much more harmful effects than providing education about moderation and safety precautions, while also giving outlets so people are more willing to call police and ambulances if problems do go wrong. Some universities are actually ahead of society with respect to this issue in my opinion.
Just as a tangent, I think this issue is also analogous to the abstinence issue which has largely been settled that abstinence is counterproductive in preventing STDs and unwanted teen pregnancies, whereas education about protection and moderation and not prosecuting sexual deviance laws is seen as largely effective in accomplishing these goals.
One last thing, I think you’re thinking that the current situation is indicative of rampant underage drinking and it is not satisfactory, but I think you have to look back before these new progressive policies came into play. People were still drinking like goldfish, but they were doing it unsafely. They would binge drink until they needed to get pumped and then there was the effect of rape where girls would not use the buddy system and drunk driving because there was not alternative provided by the school. These negative effects of alcohol have been attacked by your school’s policy; it’s just that the actual drinking hasn’t.
Good point.
And yet even though my university isn’t cracking down we are still one of the top party schools in the nation. So what we are doing doesn’t seem to have worked a lot.
If my goal is to reduce the amount of underage drinking at any cost, then we could execute anyone under the age of 21. Bam, they can’t drink any more.
Basically, I don’t see any real need to curb it beyond what’s there already. Presumably if we wanted to reduce the amount of underaged drinking there would be something specific that is considered valuable as a result of that. What exactly is benefit in your eyes?
I think the benefit is getting them to be more mature and responsible. College should be about preparing for adulthood, not prolonging childhood. Breaking a law that is not hurting you, and getting really drunk on purpose both seem immature to me, even though I know that plenty of mature adults do those things.
A more specific benefit would be to allow my school to get rid of its’ “party school” reputation and only be known for its’ academics.
I do realize that since I am not part of the party scene, and did not drink until I turned 21, I can be judgmental about it at times.
I think the benefit is getting them to be more mature and responsible. College should be about preparing for adulthood, not prolonging childhood. Breaking a law that is not hurting you, and getting really drunk on purpose both seem immature to me, even though I know that plenty of mature adults do those things.
A more specific benefit would be to allow my school to get rid of its’ “party school” reputation and only be known for its’ academics.
I do realize that since I am not part of the party scene, and did not drink until I turned 21, I can be judgmental about it at times.
Romanigypsyeyes, I could agree to that.
I went to a party school undergrad. I don’t understand the big deal of a “party school” reputation.
I did drink underage. Alcohol was never off limits to me. Until I started grad school, I could count the number of times I’d ever been drunk on one hand with fingers left over.
IMO, schools are not supposed to be police. They should not be trying to curb underage drinking. Unless people are obnoxious or dangerous to others, I don’t believe the police should involve themselves in trivial things.
If you want to drink yourself stupid and just hurt yourself, be my guest. That shouldn’t be illegal. If you’re disturbing or putting other people in harm’s way then you should have to pay for that offense.
Also good points. Which is why I don’t generally express my opinion on this in person. Since I know that it generally isn’t hurting anyone. I also hope that they grow out of it, but I generally wouldn’t say that. Also, how is it that people get drunk more in grad school? Aren’t grad students often too busy for that?
You seem to do an awful lot of generalizing. No, most people don’t get “drunk more” in grad school. I just happened to because I found a group of friends that liked beer as much as I did and who I could drink and have good conversations with. I didn’t really drink in undergrad because I was working and going to school full time so I never had the time.
Almost every one I know drank significantly less in grad school than undergrad.
Thanks for pointing that out. I do realize that I should work on not generalizing so much. Maybe it’s because I’m at a big party school, and don’t have a big social circle. I don’t have enough info to gauge average drinking levels, so I guess they seem higher to me than they really are.
I went to school when the drinking age was different in every state. In Wisconsin, I drank beer (legal at 18, we started at about 15). No one really cared to drink more than that, and we rarely got crazy drunk. Then moved to Colorado where beer was legal at 18, other drinks at 21. Until we turned 21, most of us were fine in the beer bars. You have to drink a lot of beer to get really drunk; it’s shots that will kill you.
I think beer should be legal at 18.
My nephew just got a MIP ticket on spring break for having a drink on the beach. It was noon, he wasn’t drunk, it just is illegal to have the drink. It’s a big deal, with possible loss of license for a year, big fine, court costs, and on his record. If beer was legal, he would have just had a beer. When people say it’s no big deal and just let them drink how it is now, I say it can be a big deal.
I have one who doesn’t drink and does do the free Friday night events at her school - comedians, movies, dances, concerts. The other DD would love to be a big party animal, but she’s an athlete and the NCAA regulates her every move. I love the NCAA and its rules.
Also sounds like a good idea. Although I’d prefer tougher enforcement for the time being, I could support lowering the drinking age eventually, at least for beer.
Jimmyboy23, I think the law is just because it doesn’t hurt anyone to not drink. Unjust laws like Jim Crow segregation would actually do some physical or mental harm to people who obey them. But then again, I would support changing the law because Americans can join the military and vote at 18.
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To be honest, I drank more frequently as an underaged student than after I turned 21. One reason is that school kicked my ass more after I turned 21 so sometimes I’d be too tired to go out. Another reason is that I like saving money and feel too old at the fraternity parties I would go to as a younger student. My friends and I would usually be responsible about it. I’d be lying if I said i never got sick or blacked out or anything which isn’t my intention. But we would always take sober rides home or if we walked we do so in groups.
Basically, make the drinking age 18 so students get over the excitement of drinking sooner. And of course amnesty rules and education for underaged people help too.
Vctory, It just seems like most people over 30 wouldn’t do those things. I added in “some” so I wouldn’t be generalizing.
@Roadtripgirl
That reasoning does not make the law just. By that reasoning, the law would have the ability to ban anything on the pretext it “doesn’t hurt you to not be engaging in that activity”. Going to the extreme, the state could ban orchestra practice, sports, driving certain types of cars. If you don’t engage these activities you would be perfectly fine, but some people enjoy these activities and should have the right to do so because it does not hurt others without their consent.
In order for the law to be just, it must show that the person’s underage intoxication in and of itself infringes on others’ natural rights to life, property, etc.