Angelina WagnerPut on your bathing suits, upperclassmen, because drinking allowances are flooding the houses and apartments; all students over the age of 21 are invited to an adult-swim. In other words, if you are a senior and think you have been violating any rules by drinking on campus since turning the legal drinking age, chances are, you have not.
“We treat drinking laws here at Cabrini the same as the laws instituted by the state of Pennsylvania,” George Stroud, director of residence life, said. “Minors are not permitted in any bars in Pennsyvania and we don’t allow them in the presence of alcohol here on campus.”
According to Stroud, students over the age of 21 are permitted to hold alcohol in their rooms if they live in any of the houses, or in the apartments. Consumption of the alcoholic beverages may take place behind closed doors, not in the hallways, and only if no one in the room is underage.
If a minor should enter, all drinking must cease, and the minor must be asked to leave.
If a crowd is caught with minors in the presence of alcohol, everyone in the room can be held accountable. Immediate actions will be taken on the host of whatever room it is in.
“Walk on any college campus, and you’re going to find drinking, lots of it,” Trevor Daniels, a senior, said. “If it is allowed and properly monitored, there is less likely to be a problem.”
“Be sure to know; just because we say you can drink does not mean that we condone irresponsible drinking,” Stroud remarked wanting to get that point across strongly. He went on to say that the drinking games are forbidden because their only purpose is to get drunk. Kegs and party-balls are also restricted from campus.
Junior Leslie Connus agrees with the allowances, but wishes they were more apparent when she lived in the houses. Connus, who is now 22, always hid her drinking when she finished her homework because no one knew what was permitted. “I was 21 and it felt like High School, so I just moved off campus,” Connus said.
The entire college experience involves learning to become independent through academic goals as well as diving into the social pipeline. A simple compromise between the two such as the drinking allowance creates a tolerable atmosphere.
People are going to drink whether they are allowed to or not. Connus feels that being told one can’t drink is more of an incentive to drink.
“This policy’s purpose is to educate young adults how to drink with rational thought,” Stroud said.
Posted to the Web by Angelina Wagner
