So I wrote another column for the campus newspaper this past week....and I got some good feedback from students. I felt like a hypocrite when I wrote it, as you well see below..., but I doubted anybody else would step up and write the same column...so I went ahead and did it. Enjoy.
Alcohol Policy Not the Only Answer
By now, every Wartburg student knows, or at least has heard of the new alcohol policy implemented by Wartburg officials. This year, the school took measures towards preventing parties on campus by putting in place stiffer penalties for those who host on-campus parties, and higher fines for alcohol violations. Unfortunately, alcohol consumption is a problem on nearly all college campuses, especially at Wartburg, where its traditions don’t necessarily help the problem.
For more than 20 years, Wartburg College has sponsored an Oktoberfest and purchased several kegs of beer as the drink of choice for everyone of legal age. Although it has only been the past couple of years that the festival has been held on campus, and all those of age must wear a wristband at all times, the college is still sponsoring the consumption of alcohol. It doesn’t matter that the participants are of legal age, for the school’s own policy states that even students 21 and over can still commit an alcohol violation. Perhaps at a college with a heritage such as Wartburg’s, a change of policy for the students isn’t the answer, but a change of policy for the school as an institution.
Enforcement is another issue. Even though the new rules will make students think twice before throwing a party, the point becomes moot if the rules are not enforced. Take the Mensa, for example. How many times have you seen students leave with more than the allowed amount of fruit? Just the other day I saw a student put at least five bananas into his backpack and then leave. And how many times have you seen a Food Service worker chase a student down and retrieve the fruit? Never. It is the same with the alcohol policy: as long as the rules aren’t enforced, the students will not abide by them.
Now, I’m not blaming the Resident Assistants, or Campus Security, or even President Ohle. I’m merely stating that changing just the alcohol policy will not fix or prevent alcohol related problems on campus. At a place like Wartburg, where the school throws an annual kegger, more needs to change than just the penalties of an alcohol violation. Students are not the only ones at fault here; Wartburg is too. Maybe Wartburg officials should look internally at solving this nation-wide problem as well.