Quote:
Originally posted by James
I think you are making good sense, but I think that the main problem is that drinking age is 21.
Thats what is killing greeks.
IF you want that to stop being a factor, dont take initiates under 21. Immediately expel any member under 21 that drinks (Zero Tolerance) and/or require all fraternity houses have a live in advisor that enforces dry housing rules.
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Nah. While I agree that the drinking age should be 18 rather than 21 (for lots of reasons), the fact that the drinking age is 21 is not what's killing people -- they died when the drinking age was 18, as well.
It doesn't matter how low the drinking age is; people who are under that age will continue to drink. (I was drinking at 16 when the legal age was 18.) The fact that it was legal for us to drink beer and wine in college did not make us any less stupid or any less likely to abuse alcohol.
The core parts of the problem are that (1) we talk about
anti-drinking campaigns rather than
responsible drinking campaigns, and (2) as a society in general and college and Greek communities in particular, we continue to treat alcohol abuse, particularly among young adults as an expected, enjoyable phase of life rather than as a life-threatening problem.
I think DeltAlum is right -- peer pressure is perhaps the only thing that will work. If we as Greeks say "this is not what we're about, and we won't allow our brothers or sisters to abuse alcohol," we might get somewhere.
ETA: I know I'll make lots of folks angry about this, but I'm going to say it anyway:
I think a case in point can be found in the thread on drinking in letters. Why in the world so many GLOs take time and energy to make rules that members can't drink in letters (and then the resulting hyperanalysis on whether a tatoo constitutes "letters" and prevents one from drinking ever) is totally beyond me. Here are the messages such a rule entails:
-- drinking is bad and shows a lack of class, so don't do it; and
-- we know you're going to drink anyway, and we don't trust you to be able stop when you need to stop, so make sure that when you drink you're not wearing letters or doing anything else that would bring the group into disrepute.
If a GLO had a rule that members are not to get drunk in their letters, I could respect that. But this business of "don't drink in your letters," imho, does nothing to encourage responsible drinking and lots to discourage it.
Have at me.