Is drinking a problem at DePauw?
Our administration says yes and no. In President Casey's email to students, he said our No. 12 party school rating was inaccurate, yet our participation in the Learning Collaborative on High-Risk Drinking implies that we are increasingly toeing the line of dangerous levels of partying.
DePauw Student Government has convened several times this semester to discuss ways to slow us down, and the administration is backing them.
In college, the line between drinking and getting drunk becomes blurred and there is a tendency to turn a blind eye at underage drinking. Unfortunately, the truth is that excessive alcohol consumption is a problem for nearly every campus. Drinking is not the concern - they can't stop the students from comsuming alcohol; it's the rising BACs and number of hospital runs that has caused the administration and student government to deem DePauw's social nightlife as dangerous.
In an effort to monitor the drinking culture of DePauw and encourage safer social habits, DePauw administration and student government has collaborated to create programs like S.O.A.R., C.A.T.S. and now the newest program BACk Down (which we think is a clever name).
However, after all this talking, we haven't seen a decline in the drinking-related incidents. DePauw's drinking culture is heading down a slippery slope, and there needs to be action before we get to the bottom and a line is crossed.
As far as addressing the situation, all we've really noticed are water bottles being supplied and Beta Theta Pi getting pizza delivered late night in effort to sober people up. Thumbs up to the student monitors keeping an eye out for the safety of other students, but providing sobering-up tools isn't going to help reverse the raising drinking trends.
Last semester, the university was pushing towards a policy change: no hard liquor allowed at registered events. When this news hit the campus, there was a negative response from the students. They weren't too keen on the idea. The administration withdrew the "no hard liquor" idea. Back to the drawing board.
Why didn't the policy stand? It didn't even last a full semester. Without going into what it takes to define our drinking habits as a "problem," there seems to be a hiatus of coming up with a solution that people are willing to stand by. The phrase echoed around campus is that our lifestyle here is "not real life," and in many ways, this is true. There are no real punishments that stick, and fraternities do not fear breaking IFC and administrative rules.
While we praise student government's aim to make students happy, they seem to have a fear of upsetting the student body. That might not be keeping students' best interests at heart. Let's face it: many students are going to disagree with any rule that limits their alcohol comsumption. But if the administration or student government doesn't take any punitive measures, what is going to encourage students to be more responsible?
All we ask is that the administration and student government follow through on their goals. If they decide nothing really is wrong, then focus on other issues. However, whatever policies are going to be implemented, they need to be backed with confidence if we are ever going to expect them to work.
Note: Brianna Scharfenberg did not contribute to this editorial because she is out of town.