Drinking Laws and College Students
September 1999, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY
copyright 1999 by Bridget Kelly
At approximately 4 a.m. Sunday, September 26th, an 18-year-old resident of Wilder Tower was taken to the emergency room at Strong Memorial Hospital and treated for severe alcohol intoxication. He was released twelve hours later, at which time his blood alcohol level had finally fallen below .10. There was no observable long-term damage.
It is incidents like these that serve as reminders that this country's alcohol laws are possibly one of the more debated issues on college campuses. In a sampling of eleven young people, most of them residents of Wilder Tower, a surprising number of them had similar responses when asked how realistic they thought this country's drinking laws were. All were in agreement that the laws as they stand are ineffective. Some seemed to believe that the laws were necessary, while others were certain that the legislation only made the issue worse. Most, however, seemed convinced that the laws were merely irrelevant.
"What drinking laws?" was the response of Jeremy Steflik, 19, class of '01, beer in hand.
Michael Van Zander, 20, class of '01, took a swig from his can of Busch and belched. He and Todd Pipitone, 22, class of '00, shared the opinion that in view of the age limits for almost everything else in this country, the age of 21 for alcohol made little sense.
"I am of the firm belief that if you can die for your country and vote for your country then you can drink to your country when you turn 18," said Pipitone.
Others felt that in view of the laws of other countries, this one's age limit of 21 seemed inffective. "I think they're misguided," said Michael Lee, 21, a Take-5 student. "I'm from Korea and we don't have drinking age limits over there... people are expected to watch for themselves."
"People who don't know how to drink are the ones that get in trouble," said Masako Fukata, 20, class of '02.
George Flevares, 22, alumnus of the class of '99, had a carefully considered answer. "Regardless of... the legal drinking age... as long as alcohol is viewed as some forbidden fruit and children are not taught that it is not something to be abused but to be enjoyed, drinking laws will always be out of line."
Sharon Szymkowicz, 20, class of '01, said that the law was "culturally unrealistic." She was drinking a beer at the time. Jason Stradling, 21, class of '00, agreed. Szymkowicz believed that it depended strongly on the upbringing of the individual. Stradling brought up the issue of accessibility.
"People are going... to find some way to drink. They're just gonna have to do something illegal to get their alcohol," said Stradling. David Lyons, 18, class of '02, agreed that it was "absurd to legislate an unenforceable law."
Chris Cortina, 24, a visitor, agreed that the laws were realistic, "but enforcement is not." If banned one place, he said, "it's just going to resurface someplace else."
Janak Gada, 21, alumnus of the class of '99, had a harsher view of the law. "Laws are there just to cover asses," he said. Flevares added that "responsible drinking is not something to be taught in schools."