Ask someone you know who lives in University Housing if their housefellow is tolerant of drinking and you will probably get a confusing response, like \sometimes they are cool about it and sometimes they are not."" This inconsistency in housing policy hurts everyone and helps no one.
The university's main problem is that it is trying to combat an incurable ""problem""-underage drinking. Instead of trying to eliminate drinking from the dorms-since all one needs do is look at this country's failed ""great experiment,"" prohibition, to realize that drinking cannot be legislated out of existence-the school should be more concerned with curbing the negative effects of those who do drink.
Current housing policy is flawed in that it forces the student to be secretive in the consumption, but open in the clean-up of their spirits. This is preposterous because it is in the process of drinking that the student is in most danger of bodily harm, not in the clean-up. If resisdence assistants are truly meant to be the students' protectors, they should be allowed to supervise the students when the danger is greatest, instead of forcing them into feigned ignorance of what is going on all around them.
A logical question arising from this argument is how can housefellows openly tolerate illegal behavior? First, they are not policemen, they are just regular students. However, as employees of the university and therefore agents of the government, it seems illogical to ask them to turn a blind eye to illegal behavior. On the other hand, the police force of Madison, a body even more recognizable as government agents than lowly house fellows, already allows a single day of hedonistic lawlessness: the Mifflin Street Block Party.
Mifflin Street is a perfect example of how it is better to accept illegal behavior in the name of public safety than to deny its prevalence in our community. This year the students were allowed into the street and the police patrolled amongst the crowd, even stopping to pose for the occasional picture with underage lawbreakers, to ensure no one's safety was in jeopardy from over consumption or the over exuberance of other revelers.
Another example of tolerance of illegal activity comes from Washington University in St. Louis. There, while it is not an official policy listed in guidebooks, RAs encourage their residents to leave their doors open while they drink so they can supervise their residents in the situations that most require clear-headed thinking. This is an excellent policy and should be unofficially adopted by this university as soon as possible.
Nothing undermines a law more than inconsistent enforcement. But what is the ""law"" of underage drinking in the dorms? One is allowed to display empty bottles, but is forced to hide full ones. All of those empty bottles were at one time full, and the university cannot really be na??ve enough to assume they were picked up off the street for their aesthetic qualities.
By condoning the possession of empty liquor bottles the university is giving tacit consent to the act of emptying them. Also, the display of empty bottles is a slap in the face to the housefellows, for it serves as a trophy representing a night of successful rule-breaking. Therefore, this act of semi-tolerance only confuses the resident into not knowing if drinking is frowned upon or given the secret wink of approval, and angers the housefellows by usurping their supposed authority. Instead of this absurd, enigmatic approach, the university should adopt one clear-cut policy: tolerate drinking or legitimately ban it.
Since it is obvious that the current situation, in which no one knows whether the housefellows are there to be your friend, or are out to get you, is not working, something must be done in order to gain some transparency. Since it is also obvious that a clear-cut ban on drinking would not work, the university should acknowledge that drinking occurs, and convert housefellows from inconsistent policemen into productive, beneficial, student aids, which would better the lives not only of residents but of housefellows as well.
