During a Wednesday night meeting to discuss the presence, prevalence, and perils of alcohol on campus, one consensus was clear: identifying the crux of the problem is as difficult as identifying any potential solutions. While the raw data suggest that students are treating alcohol differently this year than they have in years past, the arguments articulated by students and administrators define the wide spectrum of opinions concerning current alcohol policy: either it is too strict, too lenient, or is simply too removed from the realities of drinking culture at Bowdoin for it to apply.
So far this year, there have been 18 students transported to the hospital for alcohol-related emergencies. In comparison, the 2008-09 academic year had 17 transports in total. In both years, all cases involved hard alcohol.
While this increase in transports has alarmed administrators, it has also sparked the attention of students. On the one hand, Bowdoin sends fewer students to the hospital for alcohol-related incidents than any other school in the NESCAC. When Bowdoin students choose to drink, in the majority of instances—by our calculations, over 99 percent of the time—we do not find ourselves in an emergency room. However, the behavior of students that leads to needing medical attention at the end of the night is no longer unique. At the same time, our behavior relative to another school is largely irrelevant when it is the safety of our own students that is endangered.
Administrators concerned with how alcohol—particularly hard alcohol—is used, abused, and regulated on campus are asking the College community for candid responses. Do we think this is an issue? Are we concerned by the behavior of our peers? What about our own behavior? Do we need to change the campus culture surrounding drinking, and are we willing to change our own habits?
Right now, we are not interested in the administration's willingness or refusal to consider permitting hard alcohol for students of age, or any other policy debates that may come in future weeks. Right now, we are interested in tonight, tomorrow night, or the next night, and whether we, as students, can prove that we are aware of our limits.
We'd like to present a challenge to ourselves and our fellow students: Can we try to be responsible this weekend? Can we try to avoid the shot-ripping, frantic pre-gaming culture that has been instituted on campus and learned by each incoming class? Can we remain conscious enough of our drinking habits this weekend to think about what really makes for a fun night out? Rather than focus on a long-term change in culture, let's take things one weekend at a time.
If we make it through the weekend without sending anyone to the hospital, that's one success.
If we make it through, consciously adopting a little more responsibility and willingness to reflect, and find that the weekend was no less fun than any other, then maybe we haven't lost our way.
However, if we, as a campus, can't even make it through this editorial without resisting the idea of a weekend without rapid-fire pre-games and excessive drinking, then maybe there is a problem.
- IN OPINION THIS WEEK...
- Editorial: Leaving Home
- Benefit of the Doubt: ‘Nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so’
- Country First: Good luck, Class of 2010, in an America with an inept president
- Examining our addiction to the Internet
- Letter To The Editor: Green Hornet prank didn’t prompt theft
- Letter To The Editor: Senior Week ought to be transparent
Comments
Click here to view all comments (4)
Rutledge Long (Feb 5, 2010, 5:11 pm)
This article suggests that people who are stage 4 alcoholics will be able to control their drinking...that is not possible. Many students here are literally incapable of controlling the amount they drink. They get way more drunk than they mean to and they do things they don't remember. Saying that we should all just "snap out of it" and be more careful and look out for each other is not a viable cure.
Rutledge Long (Feb 5, 2010, 5:14 pm)
last night i told two friends who were talking about drinking more liquor at 4 am that I didn't mind them staying up and playing video games but that i didn't want them to drink anymore. they told me to mind my own business. i again stated my feelings then went to bed. this morning when i woke up i found out that they had decided to drive to portland to go to the strip club. tell me again, is it really possible to just look out for ech other better? NOOO YOU IDIOTS
Gemma Leghorn (Feb 5, 2010, 7:29 pm)
The editorial's suggestion is two-fold: students should look out for each other as best as they can, but students should also be able to evaluate and reflect upon their actions on an individual basis. As you say, there is no way to control what anyone else does. The "we" in our questions--can WE be more responsible, can WE be more aware--does not encompass some abstract "we." Instead, it's a sum of each individual on campus (and that includes you and me) asking these questions of him or herself.
Marissa Alioto (Feb 8, 2010, 5:09 am)
I don't tend to take a position on an issue when I don't have a solution in mind, so I've resisted weighing in on this debate, but after this weekend I can't really keep quiet any longer. So yeah, there really is no intellect behind my current emotions but I'm going to let the anger, and the frustration, and the sadness stand because honestly that's all I have right now. It's like 1:30 in the morning and I've spent the past 36 hours revisiting memories of my senior year, a year which changed course very quickly after the death of my classmate Taylor. I hardly knew her, we didn't move in the same circles, but I think about her often. She wandered away from a Friday night bonfire in the woods with a blood alcohol level of .13 derived mainly from a bottle of Bacardi rum. They found her body on Monday, face down in a swamp- she had drowned. Everything changed. Classmates were arrested, the police cracked down to a point deemed "witch hunt" by some. It affected me in my own way. I was class president so I thought I had to be strong, set a good example, bring people together. What this really amounted to was somewhat impersonal details- changing the class slogan, diffusing tension between the Principal and grief driven students, and always treading the fine line between memoriam and heroic glorification. Even as I painstakingly wrote my graduation speech (delivered as Taylor's mother sat in the front row, her daughter's 17 year old face freshly tattooed on her forearm.) I spoke about the experience in a way that reflected the collective psyche of my class, not necessarily my own feelings, which were always evolving. And this weekend has brought yet another dimension to an experience I will ponder for my whole life. One of my best friends was transported to the hospital after having too much hard alcohol. I had gotten frustrated waiting for her to finish pre-gaming and left for a party with my other friends, leaving her with a less responsible, equally intoxicated group. My 1:00 well-being text went unreturned, and I found out what had happened in the morning. We checked on her as she slept throughout the day, and tracked down her coat, shoes and phone. I cried out of gratitude at the fact that I had a living friend to pick up the pieces for when things easily could have turned tragic. As for my hometown community, it still isn't the same. Taylor's mother is currently bringing "wrongful death" suits against parents and students that supplied alcohol. She is attempting to sue kids our age for the death of one of their best friends. I thought I knew who was responsible. I thought it was 100% Taylor, but maybe I'm wrong. My question is then, if we are not responsible for our actions who or what is?
Questions or suggestions concerning comments? E-mail orient@bowdoin.edu with the subject line "Comments."