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opinion:
our view
Alcohol policy
half-empty
In the wake of the
drinking death of a Cal State Chico freshman last October, Chancellor
Charles B. Reed, is calling for the entire Cal State system
to adopt a drinking policy to prevent further tragedies.
Wanting to prevent
future student alcohol-related deaths is an admirable goal,
but how exactly they hope to achieve this goal is unclear.
Drinking policies are set at each individual school; they
would likely be unwilling to cede any authority to the head
office.
Locally, the drinking
policies are dissimilar. At Cal State Long Beach, alcohol
is prohibited in the dorms, but allowed in The Nugget. At
Cal State Fullerton, alcohol is allowed in the dorms, but
only in individual rooms and not in common meeting areas.
At both, fraternities are prohibited from having open kegs
as well as other minor restrictions.
What the CSU's
can do without trampling on student rights is unclear. Banning
alcohol advertising on college campuses will likely bring
protests on First Amendment grounds, though it would be a
relief not to have to see a Budweiser placard while looking
in any direction at The Nugget.
Just as banning
cigarette ads does not put a dent in teen smoking, banning
alcohol ads won't deter anyone from drinking.
Placing a campus
security officer at every fraternity party to police every
bar will also likely draw vocal protest from fraternities
complaining about living in a police state.
Continuing programs
that educate students about the dangers of misusing alcohol
seems to be one of the few things that have any beneficial
value.
Students are often
prone to the follies of youth that make them feel invulnerable
to harm. But, having a firm grounding in the realities of
alcohol abuse and cases like the death at CSU Chico should
scare some of them straight.
The other option
would be to encourage those students that do understand the
dangers to be more active in stopping their friends from drinking
irresponsibly. Hopefully, the peer pressure to be good will
outweigh the pressure to be bad.
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