Opinions

Editorial:
A drinking school with an administration problem

As this weekend approaches, students will clutch their plastic cups just a little tighter as they stand in line for the keg, waiting for the boom to drop in some unspecified way. The forces conspiring to change Wesleyan’s alcohol policy remain unknown, but the party responsible for keeping the student body in the dark is evident: the Administration.

Moreover, the logic behind the anticipated crack down on alcohol served at parties remains obtuse. Does anyone think new rules or stricter enforcement will prevent 3,000 college kids from having a good time on weekends? The truth of the matter is that students are likely to drink regardless of school policy or state law. By taking the alcohol out of the parties, these rules will not prevent drinking, just relocate it to student residences before going to parties.

Last year the Administration mandated that all parties be held by officially trained hosts and the students complied. This new policy of removing alcohol from parties will counteract the prudence of last year’s initiative by pushing alcohol consumption underground.

If the people want to change student social culture they are gravely mistaken in their belief that any modification can occur through this iron-fisted, top-down approach. After all, Wesleyan students did not invent social drinking; we merely seek to uphold its long, proud tradition.