Rethinking the dry campus

editorial cartoon by Adam Omernik
editorial cartoon by Adam Omernik

Why is the University of La Verne a dry campus? The administration’s main answer: “Because we don’t see any benefits in changing this tradition,” which can be interpreted as “Because it’s always been like that.”

Founded by the Church of the Brethren in 1891, ULV decided to ban alcohol from the campus. Since then, however, times have changed, and tradition should not keep us from seriously considering the advantages and disadvantages of reform.

One advantage of a dry-campus is to protect the reputation of ULV by strictly excluding alcohol from the academic environment.

Other reasons include the problems of underage drinking.

“When a 21-year-old student is allowed to drink in his room and his roommate is underage, he will drink, too,” said Loretta Rahmani, dean of student affairs. “And underage drinking is a crime that we cannot allow to happen on campus grounds.”

But shouldn’t ULV trust their adult students?

Does a dry-campus actually work? Does it make angels out of young people living and experimenting as comes naturally? Is it at all realistic?

“I don’t think that the dry campus makes our students drink less,” Rahmani said. “It just keeps alcohol away from the residence halls and social events.”

This leads to the questions concerning where the students drink. They drink in apartments off campus, often more than a two-minute walk away.

As the campus rules also forbid being drunk on campus, those students are not supposed to return from the parties but stay there till they are sober. What if that is not possible? The students will have to return to their home, hopefully by a designated driver, if one actually exists. And if they did not, and are wise enough not to drive drunk, it is not much better having them walk intoxicated through the dark streets at night.

Allowing students to drink on campus and bringing the parties to the dorms would decrease students driving drunk or walking through La Verne at night. It would also improve the student spirit, as more students would stay and party in La Verne instead of going home over the weekend.

This might also have economical benefits for ULV. With the reputation of good student-spirit, the school might be able to attract more students.

Alcohol is not harmless, but legal for students 21 years or older. At the age of 21, the state gives citizens the freedom to decide whether to drink or not and to face the consequences anywhere in the state of California – anywhere except on dry campuses.

At college, students should learn how to make good life choices, but they will not learn this without the freedom to make those choices, and perhaps a few mistakes along the way. This does not mean that ULV should change their policy right now, but these arguments should be considered instead of saying, “Because it has always been like that.”

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Unsigned editorials represent the opinion of the Campus Times Editorial Board.

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