Binge drinking claims another life
The recent death of the Rider University freshman who collapsed at a fraternity house after a night of binge drinking is certain to rekindle debate about what should be done to keep college kids from drinking themselves into stupors - or worse.
The responses range from banning alcohol (and drugs) entirely from college campuses to lowering the drinking age from 21, which some argue would only encourage more irresponsible drinking.
My feeling is that as long as the legal drinking age is 21, college presidents have an obligation to aggressively enforce it. That means banning it in dorms and fraternity/sorority houses and expelling students who violate the law. There's no justification for turning campuses into safe havens for alcohol abusers. And I have little tolerance for college presidents who turn their back on the problem, then intone about how tragic it was that excessive drinking claimed the life of one of their students.
The responses range from banning alcohol (and drugs) entirely from college campuses to lowering the drinking age from 21, which some argue would only encourage more irresponsible drinking.
My feeling is that as long as the legal drinking age is 21, college presidents have an obligation to aggressively enforce it. That means banning it in dorms and fraternity/sorority houses and expelling students who violate the law. There's no justification for turning campuses into safe havens for alcohol abusers. And I have little tolerance for college presidents who turn their back on the problem, then intone about how tragic it was that excessive drinking claimed the life of one of their students.
posted by Randy Bergmann at 2:06 PM
1 Comments:
I will never understand this liberal mentality, so prevelant here in New Jersey, that holds that every tragedy involving a kid or a teen somehow "rekindles a debate" which must then be met with some sort of "response" or, even worse, a change in govermental policy.
This Rider student committed suicide. It may have been an accidental suicide, but at the end of the day, the kid took his own life. Moreover, he did it despite already existing alcohol bans and laws that prohibit those under 21 from drinking in the first place.
What precisely would you have these University Presidents do, Mr. Bergmann? Have the campus cops kick in the doors of the homes of adult students so that they can look for a six pack? Expell a 20 year-old because she got caught drinking a glass of wine? (Please do tell us how you enjoyed your very first beer sometime after your 21st birthday.) Do we burn the Constitution because one kid in 100,000 doesn't have the sense to know that he shouldn't drink himself to death?
Bigger and more intrusive government isn't going to save every kid, Mr. Bergmann, no matter how much you wish it were so. Nor should it.
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