What Does A Dry Campus Mean

Every year, universities always have the same issue regarding alcohol. Students are constantly getting in trouble for possession or consumption. Here at Eastern Connecticut State University, the policy is a dry campus. This means that alcohol is completely prohibited on campus. There are many opinions when it comes to this choice, as there are also many pros and cons to it. One pro of having a dry campus is that students can find other events to go to. Eastern often offers other events where students can do and socialize, promoting a night without alcohol.

Students can also join clubs, intramurals, sports, etc.

All of these clubs and events offer a positive influence on the students by keeping them busy. According to a friend and student of the school, one event that the University of Maryland sponsors is the “Spring Party Challenge. ” This is where students are encouraged to throw the best party possible without the availability of alcohol. The winner of this event will receive $300 and two runner-ups will receive 0 each.

Although Eastern does not offer an event like this, it does have other fun things to do like the monthly “Fridays After Dark” events or even free pancakes on Thursday nights sponsored by the Christian Fellowship group.

Another pro of having a dry campus is for the school itself. Because more than half the students at universities are underage, having a dry campus is a smart choice for schools. This is because it makes them not liable for any incidents that may happen to their students involving alcohol.

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With a written document, it’s rather difficult to blame the school for anything that could happen. An issue involving this is the amount of death of college students throughout the years. According to Collegedrinkingprevention. rg, “1,825 college students between the ages of 18 and 24 died from alcohol-related unintentional injuries including motor vehicle crashes” (article reviewed in 2010, year of statistic not available). The issue here is that by making a school a dry campus, students are more prone to not drink on the properties, thus making it a safer campus. On the other hand, students will go out to drink, trying to avoid getting written up. Students will drive off of campus to go somewhere else, then having to drive back home afterwards.

The problem with this that it will leave students stranded or making poor decisions, particularly without a designated driver. From personal experience, I’ve gotten a ride from a friend who said he was “alright” to drive, only later finding out that he was “buzzed. ” His reasoning for volunteering to drive was that it was his car and we needed to get back to campus. Once safely on campus, he admitted that he should not have gotten behind the wheel because he knew it was dangerous. If the campus is not dry, then students are more likely to stay on campus to enjoy a few drinks, reducing the amount of drunk driving.

Continuing on cons, another reason that students dislike having a dry campus is that they feel as though they aren’t as independent as they like to be. A lot of students choose to live on campus because they want to escape their parents and live life they way they chose. I feel that students should have the choice of drinking or not drinking, regardless of their age. I believe that it should be his/her choice as to whether or not they want to go to class with a splitting headache or if they choose to do something stupid while intoxicated.

These students are old enough to make decisions and they should know what is right and wrong. We are old enough to fend for ourselves and to decide what we want to do with our lives. If we choose to spend all our money and skip classes the next day because of alcohol, then so be it. We are making these choices; therefore we should learn to live with the consequences. Personally, I feel that although all these deaths and injuries that occur because of alcohol, is actually the person.

Yes there are more alcohol related incidents for college students, but that’s also because these students have no self-control and are not responsible for what they are doing. However, it’s not just happening in college. It’s happening everywhere, regardless of location. I do believe, however, that students who are underage should get punished when caught because they are breaking a law, not just a rule. In conclusion, I am not completely sure whether or not it is better to have dry campus. There are a lot of cons but there are also a lot of pros to it too. I think that it depends on the students and geography of the school.