hwfe@uhura.cc.rochester.edu (Harlan Feinstein) (01/14/89)
I'm writing a paper refuting an essay in the Washington Post, entitled "Are
you sure you want to send your kid to college?" The article presents many
statements from different students regarding drug and alcohol availability
on their campuses, and I was wondering if anyone would mind telling me
something about the situation at their campus, and/or commenting on a few
quotes from the article. The paper will only be read by my professor and
some other students in my class, and if you wish anonymity I would be happy
to oblige. Here are the quotes:
"... I find that even the most accomplished, at the most prestigious
institutions, seem to feel that the college scene has gotten out of hand."
--Patrick Walsh, author of the article
"Many kids waste those [college] years because they can't handle the total
freedom."
--Debbie Porterfield, Harvard '87
"We aren't supposed to drink in the dorms, but everyone has beer in their
refrigerators."
--anonymous University of Virginia student
"... College is supposed to be a time when you can grow up. And how can you
do that if the school is controlling your life. Besides, I'm not sure a
university could control what students choose to do on their own."
--Carlisle Levine, Yale sophomore
Any comments would be much appreciated, especially responses to the last
quote... should a college be held accountable, in a moral sense (as opposed
to a legal sense), for substance abuse of its students? Thanks!
--Harlan
Also, in the interest of time, MAIL me replies rather than posting them.
Most of my work will be done this weekend. Please mail to:
H_FEINSTEIN@GUVAX.bitnet or
h_feinstein@guvax.georgetown.edu
Thanks in advance to participants!hwfe@uhura.cc.rochester.edu (Harlan Feinstein) (01/18/89)
Last Friday I asked for comments on alcohol and drug availability and
usage in college, for a paper I had to write. As I promised many
people, here's the posting of the finished product as I handed it in.
Keep in mind that it's written as a response to an article in the
Washington Post entitled "Are you sure you want to send your kids to
college?" and we're to assume that our parents have read the Post
article and are questioning whether or not to continue to fund our
education at Georgetown University. On to the essay:
College life is a time of growing and maturing, as most parents
who send their children to college expect. It is at the end of
adolescence where many young men and women are still struggling to
establish their identity. It may be that alcohol, drugs, and sexual
promiscuity run rampant in college life; Welsh's "rumors" may not be
imagination. It is even legitimate to say that substance abuse exists
at Georgetown University, one of the last places some parents might
expect it. However, to conclude that money spent on a college educa-
tion is a waste, particularly at Georgetown, would be wrong.
Parents do not want to pay the exorbitant cost of a college
education, and then have their children waste the money by getting into
drugs and alcohol. This is a reasonable fear, and the question the
article raised is, why do parents pressure their children into going to
college immediately after high school (or at all, for that matter)?
There are some people whose only problem with college is that they do
not want to be there; for some reason, they have allowed their parents
to enlist them.
Are college freshman responsible enough to deal with what for most
of them is their first time away from home? Probably most are not, and
that is what makes college such a learning experience, why it is so
different from high school. Todd McComb, a PhD student at RPI, says,
"many of the younger students I've dealt with seem a little immature or
unsure of themselves, but they seem to resolve that quickly." He
thinks that the students who have the most difficulty adjusting are the
ones who were "sheltered by their parents as children." Paul Hillman,
an Assistant Residence Director at Syracuse University, maintains that
the transition to adulthood occurs during the freshman year. If some
freshmen are not responsible enough to deal with their exposure to
drugs and alcohol, what can be done, and what should be done?
There are many problems with trying to control students' use of
alcohol. Administrators have the right and responsibility to interfere
if people are being hurt, but this has to be balanced--college students
are legal adults, and thus are entitled to their privacy. Hillman, a
Resident Assistant once himself, does not think that Boston Univer-
sity's RAs "will be able to enforce those [visitation] rules unless
they put bars in instead of doors." Few students would want to go to
school where they know would be living in a dorm from Orwell's 1984.
Additionally, many people feel that substance abuse in college is
almost a non-problem; Hillman believes that college is no more "out of
hand" than in the fifties, where people killed themselves drag racing
and drinking... since then, "we've added drugs to our vices", he said,
"Big deal! We smoke less." David Chesler (Harvard, '84) says,
"spending a large percentage of one's time in an alcoholic stupor is
dumb; I don't think many of my classmates did," and Edward Scheckler
(Notre Dame, '87) extends this to drugs: "Most students reject drugs
simply because they interfere with studies, sports and other pursuits."
If a college tries to crack down on substance abuse, it will
undoubtedly run into trouble. Forbidding something oftentimes makes it
alluring. There are even legal loopholes in most college policies.
Swarthmore made a recent rule where the mention of alcohol in adver-
tisements for parties was prohibited. Harold Pomeranz (Swarthmore,
'89) says, "Now all of the advertisements say 'BEvERages' on them."
Ethan Miller (Brown, '87) comments, "Around that time [the college
years], the authority figures must stop dictating but continue advi-
sing. The university should act as a safety net for people who make
choices that don't turn out well." People learn from their mistakes,
and although this is a hard way to learn, it is probably the only way
to make students responsible about their habits. For the students to
mature, there has to be a good combination of supervision and freedom.
In light of the widespread availability of alcohol and drugs to
the college student, and high tuitions, there is scarcely an argument
supporting college's pointlessness. For most people, a college degree
is a prerequisite for success in contemporary America. "Clearly there
is drug use in college--but college age people are the heaviest drug
users outside of college as well," as McComb says, and one Reed College
student thinks most students "began drinking while still in high
school." While tuition is expensive, college is commonly worth the
money.