Today, my English class finished class presentations of our topics for our final research papers.
One topic that struck me was Graham’s topic of alcohol on college campus. It’s striking to think of having alcohol on campus because to me it makes me think of carrying a knife at school in the sense that it is culturally normal for there to be no alcohol allowed on campus.
He described the different types of alcohol policies within different institutions. Universities have “dry, damp,” or “wet” campuses. “Dry” campuses do not allow any alcohol on campus; “damp” campuses allow for alcohol if students are above the legal drinking age, and “wet” campuses allow on campus drinking and selling of alcohol. However, on damp campuses, if a minor was caught drinking, he/she would be required to take an educational course.
Graham explained that the reason for these policies revolve around the problems of binge drinking and alcohol abuse. These problems are very serious and make it understandable why strict drinking policies exist on college campuses. The photo below explains why college students drink in the first place:
The largest reason for drinking is “social activity.” I’m not surprised by this fact. On Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday nights, any student can have easy access to alcohol by simply stepping off campus and into a frat house. Frat houses are portrayed negatively in the media as being the hub of binge drinking and rape culture.
My personal opinion on this issue is mixed and reminds me of the the drug wars debate. I do think that the rules of alcohol on campus should be more lenient so that students do not go off campus and into an unsafe environment to drink. However I don’t think that the rules should be too lenient like in a “wet” campus because it seems like it’d be difficult to monitor. The issue is controversial and doesn’t have a clear solution. But it is undeniable that drinking in college is a huge issue especially because it’s so closely tied with rape culture – another topic for discussion in a future blog post.
Image Credits
Photo 2