ALCHOHAL
Heavy consumption of alcohol on college campuses seems to be an every day activity, whether it is underage or legal. Colleges rarely seek action against this activity because it is so hard to control because almost every student is partaking in the booze filled frenzy that is college. The only way a Dean or College Board would be able to fully stop the flow of alcohol in the university streets is to declare it a dry university. One such school is University of Oklahoma, in 2005 the school was declared a dry campus after a student died of alcohol poisoning following a fraternity party. Many private colleges institute dry campus rules as they may be affiliated with churches that would not condone such behavior in any circumstance.
I know from personal experiences that many college students attend the school they do because of the University’s expectations of partying. Take West Virginia, the number one party school in the United States for the past three years. I’ve been to the campus and it is clear why partying and drinking is such a favored past time. Every third store you see is a liquor store, with witty names like “Kegs R Us”, a drive through liquor store. I was not even asked for identification when we went out to bars and as simple as the idea is, the easier it is for students to get alcohol, the more they will consume it.
As debilitating of a disease that alcoholism is, and all the terrible things that can come with binge drinking, I still think that the college itself should take no part in declaring what students do with their free time. If the student does not realize that what they are doing is a significant public health factor linked to deaths, injuries, rapes, assaults and poor student performance and still continue to attend parties and get wasted, then that should be placed on their shoulders. The furthest a University should go to controlling this problem is heighten police presents in areas where drinking is known to occur...