Alcohol Policy Essay Example

Drinking, Ingrained in college culture and campuses. By now we have all come to realize the extent and infatuation of college students and drinking. Rather it does not matter how drinking is addressed it does not matter how drinking is punished, underage drinking is a fire that cannot be put out.  With the student’s best interest in mind, this policy exists to protect students from the dangers that come along with underage drinking. Do I think any punishment will stop students from drinking underage? No, I strongly believe that no matter the punishment no matter what must be written or completed students will continue to party and drink underage. I believe this for a multitude of reasons but mainly because, students are stubborn, and college has a reputation for drinking for a reason. 

I know from personal experience that some students don’t like to listen. Particularly because of the way students are approached about alcohol. Like we did something wrong. Now I understand that university policy prohibits drinking. But maybe the way we are approaching drinking is wrong? I mean let’s look at culture, well the drinking age in Canada is 19, the drinking age in Italy and most of Europe is 18 along with Mexico. So why is it in the “melting pot of cultures” that the drinking age is 21? If we are supposed to be learning about how to be adults, one of the most important things is to be able to learn self-control, and if strictly prohibiting alcohol is your way of teaching that self-control, well I am just going to tell you that we students don’t learn like that, and as a result, students become stubborn.

So why does college have a reputation for underage drinking? The college has a reputation with alcohol for a variety of reasons, increased academic and social pressure, widespread availability, but mainly because we as adults are finally learning about ourselves through our own eyes. Sometimes those eyes reach for alcohol to relieve stress, or celebrate a new week and a new time in our lives. Completely restricting alcohol leads to different issues. When all of a sudden you can drink, and you don’t know how to behave around alcohol or know your limit, bigger issues can be in the road ahead. But if we learn about alcohol now and train ourselves how to act and be around alcohol, later in life there is less of an issue surrounding it.

In reflection, I understand why the policy is in place, but maybe in the future we can revise and recreate this policy to better incorporate in the scope of things how we deal with alcohol. I understand this policy is in place to protect the students from alcohol but maybe the students don’t need that protection. My behavior of drinking with a safe group of friends in a safe location, even though I was doing it safely is not consistent with the university policy and I understand that. Because drinking is not allowed, I voluntarily choose to break that. Next time I will make sure to put my allocated beverage in a university-described “inconspicuous container.”

Although I understand why this paper is assigned and as I grasp the consequences for my actions, my use of alcohol with my religious and cultural views, will not change, and that is my choice. I choose this because the way I drink and the way I know my limits is beneficial to me.  I do promise however that I will not drink in university housing because that is outlined directly in the student conduct. This experience has not changed my relationship with alcohol but rather showed me the right and wrong way to drink. This hasn’t changed my view because of the reasons previously stated in the first two paragraphs.

After reading through a good part of the student code of conduct, should I be found in violation of alcohol policy again I could face worse consequences such as fines, more educational sanctions, community service hours, loss of privileges such as university housing, etc.… 

In conclusion, I do not mean to come off as standoffish or passive-aggressive but rather maybe together we can search to find a way to look at the use of alcohol and better diagnose why students use it, why campuses like ours have overuse of alcohol, and why what you may perceive as an alcohol problem really isn’t a problem. Although I fully understand and respect the campus policy my use of alcohol will not change. On-campus, I promise to follow the university code of conduct as closely as possible and as willingly as possible. I also want to make it clear that in no way do I have a problem with alcohol and campus policy being enforced, but rather I have a problem with the rules and regulations that lead to these campus policies.