<p>I don’t mean to sound naive that I was not aware that alcohol use is prevalent by students, underage and otherwise, on and off campus, and on campuses that permit it or don’t permit it, but when I read blogs of ambulances being consistently called and the amount of drinking on very frequent basis, I guess I am still shocked. Is there more universities can do? Would it be bad if they did (by disciplining and more underage drinking as might lead to expulsion or whatever)? I guess I just don’t get it. I realize kids are away from home, think they are independent and now adults, but it seems over the top.</p>
<p>IMO, lowering the drinking age would be a good start. Remove the “forbidden fruit” and teach kids to drink more responsibly at a younger age. I think more discipline/crackdowns/fines by colleges are counterproductive. We’ve got to get college kids away from the pregaming in the dorm rooms.</p>
<p>I don’t disagree doschicos. I was of the age group where it was legal when I was 18 until about 19 or 19-1/2, about there, and then made illegal until 21, so really odd for me. I was working as a secretary in a law office, would go out on Friday night to very nice bar/restaurants locally, have a couple of drinks with lawyers, people from the court, etc., and then suddenly I was illegal. Now I went to college at night and commuted, so that was not an issue for me.</p>
<p>It is not the school’s job to patrol these adults’ after class activities. You don’t hear about the drinking done by non college students of the same age but- it is just as prevalent (could be even more so). The illegal drinking has nothing to do with being in college while it has everything to do with being young adults. </p>
<p>Eons ago the drinking age was 18 for beer in WI, then for all alcohol in the Vietnam War aftermath- the draftable at 18 should be able to drink logic. I started with beer bars near campus and those then became regular bars the next year. I never paid as I would have a token amount in my glass and have never developed a taste for it. Likewise with the ultra cheap wines (Boones Farm anyone?).</p>
<p>The age was raised because of the effect on HS students. So much easier for them to have access when some of their own could buy it. The higher age worked in our favor when our 16 year old started college and the others around him couldn’t bar hop either. I know he did not have a “virgin liver”. It would be really nice if our culture allowed for learning to drink more responsibly. That did not happen in Wisconsin eons ago, kids just got excessive drinking out of their system at an earlier age.</p>
<p>A huge change has been no smoking in bars. One reason to not go to them was the stink of tobacco. Now at least twenty somethings can socialize in bars. </p>
<p>We have read on CC about RAs who are obliged by contract to phone for an ambulance under certain conditions, such as puking. When I was in college, puking was fairly common, and I think it was implicitly understood (correctly or incorrectly) that if you were ambulatory enough to reach a toilet and get the remaining alcohol out of your stomach, you were NOT a candidate for the hospital. Naturally, unless we were driving (which we seldom did; it was that kind of college) we had no idea what our BAC was. </p>
<p>My point is simply that raw numbers of ambulance calls and charts of BAC probably reveal less than one might think.</p>
<p>“The age was raised because of the effect on HS students. So much easier for them to have access when some of their own could buy it.” </p>
<p>I was going with my friends to bars when the drinking age was 18 and I was 16 and in high school. It was very common, too - I was not an outlier. </p>
<p>We allowed our son to have a glass of wine/beer at home when he was 15 or so. We also allowed him to drink at weddings. He once had a few too many and a variety of different things (his older cousins were doing the ordering for him) and he felt pretty awful on the 2 1/2 hour drive home. I think it was a good lesson</p>
<p>5 19 yr. old students at UAlbany were taken to the hospital this weekend for alcohol poisoning. Someone in the house, at least, had the sense to call 911. Sadly, one kid died. I don’t think anything is going to stop incidences like this. </p>
<p>My second son’s college received some sort o grant to crack down on drinking on campus. They did a very good job however at that school like many, many others the kids simply went "off-campus’ for their party activities. I’m in the camp of lower the drinking age back to 18. MADD has done a good job with the drinking and driving and my feeling is that message has gotten through. Now it’s time to help the 18-21 year olds on college campuses and get these kids off the Vodka and back to beer and out of the shadows where they can effectively be monitored without fear.</p>