Should Alcohol be Banned in Campus

Ban Alcoholic Beverages on Campus

Various arguments have been presented in the past regarding whether or not alcoholic drinks or beverages should be banned on campus grounds even for those students who have attained the legal drinking age. This text advances the opinion that there is need to ban alcoholic beverages on campus – with the said ban applying to even those students who are of the legal drinking age.

From the onset, it would be prudent to note that banning alcohol beverages would come in handy in efforts to minimize alcohol abuse or use later on in life. This is an assertion that is backed up by research conducted in the past. For instance, in a study conducted by Wechsler, Gledhill, and Nelson (2001), the authors made a finding to the effect that “students at ban colleges were 30% less likely to be heavy episodic drinkers and more likely to abstain from alcohol” (p. 135). It therefore follows that in banning alcohol in campus, we would be helping students to be more responsible adults later on in life, i.e. by further enhancing their chances of abstaining from alcohol going forward.

Further, it would also be prudent to note that campuses should only be promoting of activities and undertakings that advance their core agenda – which is learning and knowledge acquisition. Permitting any other activity that is not aligned to the core mandate would be inappropriate and counterproductive. Towards this end, alcoholic beverages should be banned on collages based on the fact that they do not in any way advance the overall agenda of such institutions. Further, colleges have a responsibility to ensure that they promote a safe environment for all students. Permitting students to drink on college would essentially fly in the face of the said responsibility. This is more so the case given that “every year, 696,000 college students are assaulted by another student who has been drinking” (University of Nevada, 2021).

Next, it would also be prudent to note that banning alcoholic beverages in campus would be a step in the right direction in seeking to promote the health and wellbeing of students, while at the same time minimizing the risk of injury and death. Various studies and authors have in the past attributed associated excessive alcohol consumption with negative health comes. Further, according to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism – NIAAA (2002), in college settings, the consumption of alcohol has been linked to numerous unintentional injuries and deaths. In as far as minimizing the risk of injury and death is concerned, NIAAA is categorical that college students are likely to drink and drive, and engage in other reckless behaviors.

It would, however, be prudent to note that there are those who are of the opinion that banning alcoholic beverages on campus, especially for those who are of legal drinking age, is not necessarily a step in the right direction. For instance, according to Reilly (2016), there is limited research on the efficacy of such a ban. Further, according to the author, an alcohol ban on campus could drive drinking underground. This is to say that students will find a way of circumventing such a policy, i.e. by visiting off-campus drinking locations. It would, however, be necessary to note that although the author in this case rises valid points, she fails to embrace the fact that banning alcoholic beverages on campus would definitely have an impact, however minimal, on the general wellbeing and health of students, as well as promote the core mandate of campuses. Thus, in the final analysis, the arguments presented elsewhere in this text, in support of a ban on alcoholic beverages on campus even for those students who are of legal drinking age, are valid and well-founded.