3 minute read
Campuses
from September 2016
by Le Journal
Campus Hard Alcohol Bans Create Danger
College campuses could see an increase of sexual assault reports as a result of ban.
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THIS EDITORIAL REFLECTS THE
VIEW OF THE LE JOURNAL STAFF.
TWENTY-EIGHT OUT OF 29
STAFFERS VOTED IN SUPPORT OF
THIS VIEW.
Blaring speakers, tipsy students and empty red solo cups litter university campuses around the country on most weekends. It’s not a secret. College students drink.
Because of this nationwide phenomenon, university administrators are searching for ways to dilute the party-scene on their respective campuses. One method is banning hard alcohol on campus parties in dormitories.
But a hard alcohol ban is not the solution. Administrators should not resort to this method because it poses more of a threat to student safety. Such a ban pushes parties off-campus, and can cause sexual assault victims who were drinking hard liquor at the time of assault to hesitate to come forward out of fear of punishment. It only offers an artificial solution to a much deeper problem.
Off-campus drinking introduces students to unfamiliar environments of sexual assaults, according to the without campus security, emergency National Sexual Violence Resource phones and a large presence of other Center are already not reported by students. college students. This statistic could
According to Time Magazine, grow even larger with this new threat an alcohol ban previously in place at being added to the already arduous the University of Kentucky was lifted process of reporting sexual assault. in 2014 in order to pull students Lastly, a campus hard alcohol away from unmonitored bars in ban does not solve deeper issues surrounding on campuses. It areas. When Because of the dangers doesn’t solve the students venture that result when hard issue of sexual outside of campus to party, they are more likely to go alcohol is banned on campus, universities assault, it doesn’t solve the dangers of binge-drinking to bars that don’t should resort to more and it doesn’t keep have restrictions on sales and comprehensive solutions. underage students from getting drunk. happy hours that could induce Also, with options such as beer binge-drinking. and wine still available, underage
Sixty-nine percent of reported students still have options. sexual assaults on campus involve In the event of Stanford alcohol, according to Campus University’s ban which occurred Safety Magazine. With an alcohol in light of the Brock Turner sexual ban in place, a victim of a sexual assault case, a hard alcohol ban assault involving hard alcohol faces misses the mark on putting an end to a potential punishment for drinking sexual assault. This puts the blame when she comes forward about her on the alcohol, not the predator, and assault. Even if this student did come makes alcohol a citable excuse for forward, because of the rules of the sexual violence. campus, the perpetrator could use Harvard University was one of the ban as a loophole in court. This the first schools to put a hard alcohol possible punishment poses the threat ban in place. According to a 2001 of keeping this victim from coming study to assess the impact of their forward out of fear. Ninety percent ban, Harvard students found that 85 percent of students had consumed hard alcohol on campus within a year of the ban being implemented. Eighty percent of surveyed students also reported that the ban was ineffective.
Because of the dangers that result when hard alcohol is banned on campus, universities should resort to more comprehensive solutions.
According to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism College Drinking Prevention Initiative, enforcing an alcohol ban is a solution with low effectiveness. More effective solutions include restricting happy hours and price promotions, increasing the alcohol tax and enforcing the legal drinking age.
University administrators need to look into more extensive, realistic approaches to ensuring the safety of their students. College is a time for young adults to learn to be responsible and to take care of themselves. Students need to be able to make the decision of whether or not to drink on their own in the safety net of campus security and support from their peers. This decision can be informed and influenced by administrators, but when it is force-fed, problems arise.
SNAPSHOT: ALCOHOL BY THE #’s
696,000 students between the ages of 18 and 24 are assaulted annually by another student who has been drinking. 59.4% of college students aged 18-22 drink alcohol within a given month.
25% of college students report academic consequences from drinking such as missing class and earning poor grades.