There are five types of drinkers in this world: alcoholics, recovering alcoholics, drunks, college students and RIT students. Alcoholics go to Alcoholics Anonymous to become a recovering alcoholic whilst college students go to RIT to do the same. In the fall of 1997, RIT decided that it was a good idea to ban all alcohol use in RIT residence halls including Greek housing and allowing it to only drinking-age students in the RIT apartments. However, RIT’s policy on alcohol is taking a step backwards because alcohol is everywhere and it is a part of life — a school promoting maturity and independence to ban something that is as much of a part of life as education is a poorly guided decision. To grow up one must understand the world and make choices, if those choices are limited by an institution then how is one able to mature?
Many people say that college was the best time of their life. When asked why they go into stories from parties, concerts, events and late nights, which all refers to “being stupid.” Others have said that college is great because it is the time in life where one is able to be stupid and get away with it. What doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger.
I am under the legal drinking age, I have more than a drink in my life, and I may have a biased opinion about RIT’s policy on banning alcohol. I do not believe that anything should be banned that can not explicitly harm students. I believe in democracy and I believe that we learn from our mistakes. In order to mature, we must allow ourselves to mature. If we ban parts of life that are inevitable then how will we deal with such things? Is it not better to live and let learn than to live and not learn? Is RIT expecting to ban bad judgement through the ban of alcohol?
One cannot simply state that bad judgement is just the result of alcohol because if this were true then the current president must always be drunk. In-fact: bad judgement is a much bigger problem then alcohol use or abuse. Bad Judgement leads to alcohol abuse, not necessarily the reverse.
The ban on alcohol is a horrible idea because it prevents students from learning and maturing. Alcohol is a very popular subject when it comes to driving, partying, night-life and most importantly: college. Alcohol plays a much larger role in college than one might think while deciding whether or not go party. Set aside some of the lesser facts on alcohol — sex, drugs and rock and roll. The risks of banning it are far greater, as it contributes to the degradation of decision making in this generation. If we cannot learn to deal with the different aspects of life then RIT banning alcohol is like mommy still holding our hand. Limiting the aspects of life limits our ability to grow up, mature, and think for ourselves.
What do you think about alcohol at colleges? Should it be banned?
Related: Professors complete benchmark RIT student survey on alcohol use
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