Guest Column: Attitudes about alcohol need some change
Published April 9, 2010
While I was visiting my parents over Easter, I helped move some stuff into storage.
I was drawn to the various items of nostalgia that dated back several decades. Among the items was a photo of my father as an undergraduate at a late '60s MU football game. It was a Polaroid of a police officer confronting him in Memorial Stadium. I instinctively inquired as to whether his alcohol was being confiscated. He laughed and responded they were taking away his air horn. You see, this was apparently back when you could walk into the stadium laden with an assortment of booze, and no one thought twice.
Now, it would be foolish to contend the Animal House-like culture of that time was healthy; however, the more I think about it, the more I feel our attitudes toward alcohol are becoming increasingly irrational, whether we look at MU, the local police or the General Assembly.
I feel MU is mostly reactionary toward alcohol.
It didn't randomly wake up and decide to lay down the law. Rather, after the incessant complaints of parents who apparently failed at teaching their children responsible drinking habits, MU decided to make war on alcohol in order to limit its responsibility.
Specific to this facet, it's more of a generational issue than anything else. The helicopter parents have followed their children to college and continue to insist on micromanaging their existence.
Therefore, I'm pretty mixed on whether MU really ought to be criticized for its attitude toward alcohol. It needs cash, and given the General Assembly has failed at life in recent years, especially in regard to higher education (although props to Gov. Jay Nixon for leading an improvement), I'd say keeping the donors happy is a worthy priority.
I mean, in practice, you can drink in the residence halls and Greek houses if you want, but it's unjust that the punishments can be pretty severe for those who happen to be caught.
I'm a bit more irate when it comes to what I've heard about the Columbia Police Department. I haven't had a first-hand experience in regard to those allegations, but they never returned my phone calls. Apparently, CPD feels the need to enter bars and card people they think are underage.
Personally, I'd prefer we not get mugged on our way home, which has been a recurring theme through the years.
An additional complaint I've heard indicates CPD likes to issue citations to people who are receiving safe rides home when stopped at sober checkpoints. I find this infuriating. Are you really punishing folks for riding sober? I feel like you could be doing better things with your time.
Finally, the General Assembly passed what is probably one of the most asinine laws in recent memory when it endorsed the minor in possession by consumption law.
I want to transition to the macro-level issue at this point. We need to recognize a lot of folks start consuming alcohol on a regular basis pretty early in high school. Basically, by the time students come to MU, it's not something that's new to a substantial portion of the student body. In other words, these policies, which are largely aimed at eliminating underage drinking, are pointless because they are largely aimed at this cohort.
Now, I'll note students could stand to be a bit smarter about alcohol too. We probably wouldn't have seen a lot of those policies had binge drinking not emerged as such a problem; however, those policies don't target binge drinkers. The social drinker who doesn't become intoxicated is as culpable as the binge drinker who blows a .25 under something like the MIC law. I recognize we're not going to see the drinking age lowered in the foreseeable future, but we could stand to see a little more discretion from our friends in law enforcement, and it would be helpful if students didn't give these folks ammunition with which to badger us.