Bettering bathwater policy

Last week we ran a free ad for EMU cross-culturals. A picture of nine different beer bottle caps was labeled "The Eastern Mennonite University Cross-Cultural Experience."

Actually, this "ad" was a comic by senior Josh Reinford, long-time Weather Vane cartoonist. We initially had reservations about printing an image with such high shock value. Like any good cartoonist, Reinford had cuttingly named a truth that we are uncomfortable talking about in some contexts.

Results of a slightly outdated survey of EMU alcohol use suggest that as many as a third of on-campus students do not abstain from drinking. I wonder how much the average student drinks annually. Two ounces? Two hundred? Of course, the "fishes" among us usually find it easier to swim off-campus.

And "off-campus" is not the only thing JMU parties and EMU cross-culturals have in common. I imbibed in South Africa. Everyone did. The Anglican priest would wipe off the cup rim with a little cloth as he went from student to student, pouring a sip into each mouth and trying not to wet our shirts. O.K., so maybe that's as crazy as my drinking stories get.

To me, alcohol is yucky, expensive, and unhealthy. According to one website, about 7.4 percent of adult Americans suffer from alcoholism, a devastating condition responsible for massive social havoc. Might one suggest that drinking is idiotic?

However, the idiocy of drinking is not the worst of idiocies. Eating cookies causes obesity, a disease far more prevalent than alcoholism. Reckless driving frequently kills and maims. But we don't suggest that cookies or vehicles should be outlawed. Alcohol dependency, like obesity and accidents, might be more a symptom of abusive behavior than a cause. Admitting this, we can hold each other accountable for abusive behavior without throwing out the alcohol with the bathwater.

Should EMU, then, throw out its stringent alcohol policies? According to the student handbook, "The possession or use of alcohol ... is strictly prohibited from the EMU campus as well as all university-related functions." Even students spotted misusing alcohol off campus will be "dealt with by the appropriate disciplinary body when reported to university officials."

Disregard for alcohol policies has been bolstered by the example of students and professors who have consistently modeled unobtrusive use of alcohol. Not reporting peers who drink to the "university officials" has become, for many of us, a sort of ethical obligation. By becoming less threatening in its alcohol policies, EMU could gain respect and trust when dealing with tragic incidents like an EMU cross-cultural student going to the hospital for alcohol poisoning.