National Collegiate Alcohol Awareness Week is upon us here at Iona. Students can see this in programs and events which have taken place during the week and will continue through tomorrow. The week-long effort, which spread information about the dangers of drinking, prompted me to do some thinking about the college’s alcohol policy.
Binge drinking, in case you haven’t heard yet, is an ongoing problem at every single college in the nation. Alcohol is a substance that, like most substances, can lead to some serious problems if you don’t know enough about it and how it will affect you. For that reason, events like Alcohol Awareness Week are not only necessary but are also beneficial additions to student life at any school.
Many of the events are fun and require participants to do nothing more than don a pair of “beer goggles,” try to walk between a couple of orange cones on campus and make a good-natured fool of themselves in the process. There’s also the traditional mocktail event, during which students are served healthy doses of virgin pina coladas, among other alcohol-free drinks. It’s a not-so-boring way to get the message across that alcohol can be every bit as dangerous as you don’t want to believe. (One in three college campuses are dry for a reason.)
Having said all that, I think it’s important to note that all forms of drinking aren’t necessarily bad – if you’re of age. In fact, some academic institutions have managed to negotiate their alcohol policies so as not to alienate upperclassmen who can legally drink, while also preventing their campus from turning into a scene from "Beerfest."
Colleges comparable to Iona, such as Marist and Providence, allow 21-year-old students to drink on campus. They don’t promote it or encourage it of course, but they deal with it. In addition, Manhattanville College has a pub on campus which is strictly enforced to ensure only seniors can get in. If Iona were to adopt similar policies, it could greatly reduce the number of off-campus parties as well as the level of binge drinking on campus in general.
A pub on campus would serve as something of a reward for students that are of age and couldn’t drink on campus earlier in their college careers. It would also cut down on the number of students who trek to downtown New Rochelle and back each weekend in search of the latest bar to hang out in. Sure, walking back form the Backyard Pub at 2 a.m. might seem smart at the time, but in hindsight it is about as smart as waving a red flag in front of a bull.
Dry campus policies force droves of underage drunks into a downtown community that didn’t ask for the burden, but must deal with it due to the complete lack of bars adjacent to Iona. The whole situation has created an atmosphere in which students of age don’t feel safe in the one place they should. Iona is a home for students for four years, yet many feel offended by the characterization of college students as a bunch of alcoholics – and rightly so. College is about a lot more than drinking for most students. But, that doesn’t mean that 21-year-old Iona students shouldn’t be able to enjoy a drink when they want to.
Just a few tweaks of the college’s drinking policy could dramatically change the environment for students and create a more enjoyable college experience for everyone.
No comments:
Post a Comment