The Justice

Back at Brandeis, this seemingly odd duality between personal opinions and professional outlook also exists. A few staffers-I'll leave them nameless out of respect-have, on multiple occasions, joked to me about the topic (mostly on my discomfort over their openly talking about it, but that's another issue entirely). Rick Sawyer, the head of the office, has often said, never this succinctly ("bluntly" would also be appropriate), that his job would be easier if the legal age were 18, as it was when he first came to Brandeis in the early '80s; there were not "unusual problems" then.

Drinking was done primarily "in the open," so the results weren't as messy as they are today, so to speak. As the Justice has harped on in our editorials a few times this year, no one wins in those situations. While fewer 18-year-olds are involved in drunk-driving accidents, I would guess that more are treated for alcohol poisoning than in the past.

Here, at least, the combination of younger students having the opportunity to drink almost whenever and the fear of repercussions results in an unduly unsafe environment.

It's nearly universally acknowledged that college students who want to drink will do so. When they do it unsafely because they are afraid of the very people who are supposed to be their resource-Student Life administrators and staffers-those intended resources have failed.

That's why I'm relieved to see that Student Life has been persuaded to test a less cumbersome alcohol policy at SpringFest next weekend: no beer garden, but wristbands and big X's. Hopefully this will go over well, and students and administrators alike can spend their time worrying about more important matters.

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