Today, the newly minted Alcohol Coalition Committee (ACC) is holding a workshop in Frist Campus Center to get student feedback about how the University can better deal with high-risk drinking on campus. Why should anybody care? Do we really need a forum to discuss alcohol at Princeton? Is alcohol that much of an unresolved issue?
Ask yourself the following questions: Do you think it should be a violation of the alcohol policy to serve alcohol to anyone, even of legal drinking age, without the consent of the University? (It currently it is.) Do you think RCAs should be required to abate any violations of the alcohol policy they encounter? (They currently are.) Do you think that McCosh Health Center should continue to send dangerously intoxicated students to the University Medical Center at Princeton, where they can be questioned by the police, instead of developing its own capabilities to deal fully and competently on its own with highly intoxicated students? Do you think that the University does a good job of helping students with addiction problems and propensities for high-risk drinking and other self-destructive behavior? If you think any of these issues are unimportant, then you’re right that we don’t need to have a discussion about alcohol on campus. But otherwise, the ACC is for you.
Have teammates? The ACC will be discussing the role of athletics in drinking. If you’re an athlete, it’s fair to say that these discussions should be important to you. Have frat brothers or sorority sisters? The ACC is also going to discuss the role of Greek organizations on campus and whether they should be recognized. If you’re a member of a fraternity or sorority, then the ACC’s discussions will affect you, too. Do you have friends whose drinking habits are dangerous to them and others? Then a discussion of how the University responds, and should respond, to these situations ought to be important to you. How alcohol is dealt with on campus is an issue that affects everybody, both drinkers and non-drinkers.
Maybe you’re convinced that a discussion of alcohol-related issues on this campus is actually important. But what’s the ACC actually going to be able to do about it? Everybody knows that there’s a strong precedent of ignoring student input when the University intends to make a major policy change; just look at how grade deflation was handled. Even when the University does make a show of eliciting student feedback, it’s normally after the proposed new policies have already been written; witness the new RCA guidelines. What’s going to be different this time?
Here’s the difference: the road map for the University’s plans to address alcohol use is going to be a strategic plan, which will be written by the ACC. And the ACC is dominated by students. The committee is composed of one faculty member, six administrators, two graduate students and nine undergraduates. This is a body that, just by virtue of its composition, will not be ignoring student input. The co-chairs of the committee are a student and Butler College Master Sanjeev Kulkarni. If students are willing to give feedback to the ACC, there’s a good chance that the committee is going to listen. At this point, it’s just a question of what input goes into that plan. If you show up to the workshop today, there’s a good chance it will be your input.
This is the students’ chance to actually be heard. And if we take the opportunity to give our input seriously, and if we make the ACC workshops a success, we may just set a precedent. Imagine a world in which the University asked (and cared) what students think about all major issues that will affect their lives. After all, University policy changes affect us the most. Administrators work at Princeton. We live here. If we screw this up, we’re not just going to embarrass ourselves. We’re going to be telling the University that it’s OK not to ask for our opinion because we just don’t care. I’m not a member of the ACC, but I think its workshops represent a major opportunity for students. My message is: Show up today.
Zach Squire is a classics major from New York, N.Y.
Want to become a ‘Prince’ columnist? Today is the application deadline! E-mail opinion@dailyprincetonian.com while there’s still time...
Read More
Why can’t lecturers win the President’s Award for Distinguished Teaching?
Jerry ZhuLet’s acknowledge those who make “boutique teaching” possible, those who work tirelessly to make our rigorous curricula more accessible, and those who dedicate their time to advising and guiding us through all the challenges we face at this University. Lecturers should be eligible for the President’s Award for Distinguished Teaching.
Let’s acknowledge those who make “boutique teaching” possible, those who work tirelessly to make our rigorous curricula more accessible, and those who dedicate their time to advising and guiding us through all the challenges we face at this University. Lecturers should be eligible for the President’s Award for Distinguished Teaching.
Princeton’s administration of justice is Trumpian
Frances BroganThe disparity between the University’s approach to Giberson and its approach to pro-Palestinian protestors reflects a concerning trend of appeasing an increasingly emboldened right rather than resisting the threat it poses to academic freedom and the wellbeing of Princeton students.
Secular Opening Exercises? Don’t throw out the baby with the bath water
Frank StrasburgerThe secular makes no room for the spiritual. What Opening Exercises are meant to convey is the spirit of the institution so that it may be kept alive from generation to generation.
The secular makes no room for the spiritual. What Opening Exercises are meant to convey is the spirit of the institution so that it may be kept alive from generation to generation.
