Excessive alcohol consumption is a problem at college campuses around the nation, and AU is no exception.
Sixty-eight percent of college students nationwide reported having tried alcohol in a study conducted in 2005 by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University. The average at AU was a little higher, with 78.5 percent of students reporting having tried alcohol.
In an attempt to combat the problem, AU has had dry residence halls since the 1980s. Although drinking for those of age is permitted at certain campus functions, it requires the permission of top-ranking university officials and a hefty insurance policy. It seems that the dry campus policy is here to stay, and there are currently changes to the student handbook in the works to expand the definitions of sexual assault, sexual misconduct and disorderly conduct, behaviors commonly associated with excessive public drunkenness.
The dry campus policy does make sense as one way to combat excessive underage drinking. Most people who live in the residence halls are under 21 (so legally, they cannot have alcohol anyway,) and on-campus residents who are of age have known about the policy and choose to live in the dorms just the same. Additionally, going to school in the middle of a city gives students of legal drinking age plenty of places to legally purchase and consume alcohol.
Having a blanket ban on alcohol in the residence halls also makes RAs' jobs easier. If no one can legally drink on campus, they don't have to worry about checking IDs and whether the IDs are legitimate.
At the same time, however, the dry campus policy alone is not going to stop underage drinking at AU. College students nationwide have a mentality that underage drinking is permitted and expected, and there's little that AU can do to change that.
Some administrators have suggested programs run at the beginning of the school year by RAs to inform students of the dangers of drinking. Few students would attend the sessions if the meetings were optional; few would actually pay attention if they were mandatory.
As much as most Americans think of all college students as living their lives in a perpetually drunken state, most students don't drink that often, and some choose not to drink at all. Whether for religious reasons or due to a personal issue in the past with alcohol (alcoholism, drunk driving), it seems that personal adverse experiences are the best way to deter students from using alcohol.
If the nation is really serious about combating excessive underage drinking, it must consider more sweeping, national changes. A lowered drinking age would be a good place to start. In Europe, where the drinking age is far below 21, college students have grown up in a culture where alcohol use was accepted and they learned to enjoy it responsibly. While such a dramatic cultural change would not occur in America overnight, it would certainly be a good place to start.
Regardless of one's opinion on a dry campus or the national drinking age, it's undeniable that out of control underage drinking is a problem that needs to be addressed. Students report increased "excessive drinking," which is defined as the consumption of eight or more drinks in under an hour.
This type of drinking doesn't just end in a nasty hangover, either. Thirty-five percent of students nationwide report others' drinking having damaged their living space and 40 report that their studying has been interrupted by others' drunkenness. More dangerously, such drinking can lead to drunk driving accidents, sexual assaults and unintended injuries and death.
It's time to move the conversation about this issue from the universities to the nation as a whole.
