Time for some peace and quiet on the 'Street'

For several years, and most recently in this month's U-Council and Graduate Inter-Club Council meetings, the University community has spent a lot of time talking about reducing alcohol use and abuse on campus. Here we are taught to value debate and discourse, but the University's alcohol experiments have simply proved that talk can only go so far.

Two years ago, the Trustees launched the Alcohol Initiative, a $100,000 project to provide social alternatives to the 'Street,' the best known being the Jon Stewart show in 2000. Thousands crowded into Dillon to see the "Daily Show" star, but the packed gym is less evidence of the trustees' success than proof of Stewart's popularity. Far fewer students took advantage of other initiative events such as the Beach Party in Butler. And following the Stewart show, the 'Street' was no less busy, thanks in part to Vanilla Ice's Princeton debut at Campus Club that same evening.

Last year the community took a different approach — our Borough neighbors proposed the now infamous alcohol ordinance, which would allow Borough police to enter eating clubs and exercise legal power there. The ordinance was quickly laid to rest alongside the trustees' initiative; it died in Borough Council meetings thanks, according to some, to a successful USG effort to create a student anti-ordinance voting bloc during last year's election.

This year's version of alcohol abuse prevention appears to be the increased presence of Borough police on Prospect Avenue each Thursday and Saturday night. Whether or not this program will effect changes in student alcohol abuse, it has at least made students more wary about where they conduct that abuse. Early this semester, two friends of mine received open-container citations. Fortunately, they are 21 and the violation was simply a matter of location. But younger students are not immune to such citations, and how will the administration react when dozens of students are charged with breaking the law?

A recent column in the 'Prince' argued against police presence on the 'Street' as a threat to students' civil liberties. However, individuals are not legally protected when they are committing illegal acts. What has been almost ignored in years of debate is that it is illegal in this country for someone under the age of 21 to purchase, possess, serve or consume alcohol. Borough police could do a lot more than sit in squad cars on the 'Street' as a reminder to students to quickly finish that beer before moving on to the next club. We've all heard reports of police entering fraternity houses and private homes at other schools to investigate a noise complaint, finding underage partiers and closing down houses or issuing arrests. In this regard, some might call Princeton students lucky.

But Borough residents also have an interest in the clubs' continued existence. Many have argued — correctly — that closing the clubs will not curb drinking. Closing the clubs will curb free drinking, and it is likely that Borough residents are aware that following such a policy, demand for alcohol vendors will skyrocket. What Borough residents want even less than rowdy students breaking street lamps is a proliferation of bars and liquor stores on Nassau Street.

The clubs are not the only taxpayers in town and probably not the most lucrative in this affluent enclave. Borough residents have a right to police protection from loud college kids making noise every week. If Borough police were not patrolling Prospect, I'd question where Borough residents' tax dollars were being spent.

If recent weeks are any indication, the police plan may have little effect on alcohol abuse at Princeton. As noble as the goals of reducing such abuse are, recent history suggests that no amount of money or wristband distribution can truly effect change. While Princeton may have a particularly unhealthy party environment, it is not alone among American universities.

Anyone who has spent time with university students abroad can confirm that the degree of alcohol abuse in the United States is not merely university students sowing their wild oats. I'm not saying drinking is uniquely American, but widespread alcohol abuse among college students is. I know of no university that has effectively created an environment where students are free to party as they wish but choose moderation. Such an environment demands a major change in the way Americans look at alcohol that accounts for our strange composite of Puritan roots and rebellious ethos. The musings that occur on campus are often respected and adopted outside the gates, but Princeton does not have the power to create the cultural overhaul alcohol abuse prevention demands.

In the meantime, however, Borough residents are entitled to peace of mind. The police presence may be irritating, but it is nothing compared to the years of noise and property damage Borough residents have endured. Julie Straus is a Wilson School major from Potomac, MD. She can be reached at straus@princeton.edu.