In a speech at Beta on Thursday, John M. McCardell Jr., former President of Middlebury College, argued that the U.S. legal drinking age foolishly ignores the reality of alcohol consumption by America’s young people. We couldn’t agree more: the time has come for a serious national discussion about a lowered drinking age and honest alcohol education that teaches young people how to develop a healthy relationship with alcohol, should they choose to drink.
But as we all know, legislative and social change on a national level can take a lifetime. And while education about responsible drinking should begin well before a student steps onto campus, the ubiquity of alcohol at most Universities make them an ideal place to foster conversation about consumption.
Wesleyan’s small size makes such a conversation even easier. The University, however, officially acknowledges alcohol roughly twice in a student’s time at Wesleyan. The first is during orientation week freshman year. The second is during senior year, when students are bussed to an undisclosed off-campus location to have a few cocktails (and we all know how well that plan usually turns out, this year in particular).
What about an on-campus bar for students, professors, and staff of legal age? We can already hear various administrators feverishly preparing answers as to why this will never happen, but let’s not kill the conversation before it begins. A bar on a college campus is certainly not unprecedented. In the not so distant past, campus bars were common (ask your parents!). Several colleges still offer on-campus student- or school-run pubs.
An on-campus bar would certainly not suffer for patrons. Late Night at Usdan has few fans, but what if you could grab a pint with your quesadilla? And WesWings is already a sports bar, minus the alcohol. Finally, if students could walk across campus to grab a beer at a bar, they wouldn’t be tempted to drive under the influence off-campus to do so (Disclaimer: we fully support legal students checking out Middletown’s beloved, locally-owned bars with a designated driver).
If nothing else, Wesleyan should reconsider its relationship with alcohol, and not through ill-advised plans like last fall’s ill-fated talk of a hard alcohol ban. We’re not advocating Public Safety crackdowns or an embargo on carrying around “water” bottles during the weekend. It’s just time the University think about alcohol’s present and future role on campus.
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