COLLOQUY

THE QUESTION

RESPONSES

BACKGROUND

Prohibition was a disaster, it failed! If we learned one lesson from that failure that should be that we can not legislate behavior, it is subjective! An eighteen year old visiting in the United States from England or France finds himself/herself subject to drinking laws of this country and is treated as a criminal for breaking the law if he/ she even touches a glass of beer. Having a glass of beer, a normal social activity they have been indulging in without any adverse effects or censorship, all of a sudden becomes a criminal activity.

The universities and fraternities provide very important services to our young people. To some degree the bars also serve as social gathering places and have brought many people happy moments and experiences. I know of some lasting relationships that started over a glass of wine. Joyce and Shakespeare have proved that some of our great literature also had its makings in a bar!

There is nothing wrong with drinking a glass of wine with your meal, actually it is proven to be helpful, or a glass of beer, which is also high in antioxidants.

Pinning the blame on some thing or some one will solve no problem. The number of students who act in an irrational manner is very small. To ignore the majority of the students who act in a responsible manner and pass legislation that negatively affects the majority based upon the actions of the few is undemocratic. There are a large number of students who act in a responsible manner and are a credit to the universities, fraternities, and to us all!

We should get some help for those frat brothers who force others to drink beyond their limits, perhaps they should be kicked out for their unthinking and inconsiderate acts that endanger nervous newcomers. Conversely those who blindly obey without question and drink themselves into a stupor should also be denied admittance to the frats because they have the potential to become abusive.

Common sense would dictate that we are all concerned with the well being of our young people, we trust them with our lives, why can't we trust them to be responsible for their actions? In a free society the drinking age should not be legislated, it is a personal choice and should be left up to the individual. We expose our children to social drinking from a very early age, we drink to their health, with a glass of champagne we ring in a new year, close a business deal, or toast the newly weds. We associate drinking with happy events, yet we are willing to make criminals out of our eighteen- to under 21-year-old adults! I am a parent of two college-age children and I am confident that the education our children received will help them to make responsible decisions. Leave the parenting to the parents!

-- Viji Sargis, President, Montclair State University Federation of Adjunct Faculty (posted 11/9, 9:35 a.m., E.S.T.)

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