Wining About Liquor

It's been nearly ninety years since the creation of the Eighteenth Amendment. And while it was laid to rest only thirteen years after its birth, some places in the world have yet to move on.

Houghton is one of these places.

Currently, the Community Covenant states that both Houghton students and faculty are forbidden from drinking alcohol either on or off campus. This rule has existed long before the temperance movement and only now is being called into question.

As always when it comes to the Community Covenant, controversy has sprung up across campus. Already, a petition to leave the rule unchanged is in circulation and speculations concerning the implications of a rule change have been flying around Houghton. Some hail a change in the rule as a form of freedom, while others have dubbed it a travesty of Houghton tradition. Some have pointed out that drinking is listed in the Community Covenant as a sin, while others point out that the same was once true for dancing.

Before we pass judgment, let's tack a step back and look at the facts

Firstly, let us look at exactly who would be affected by a change in this rule.

US law prohibits anyone under the age of twenty-one to drink, so by process of elimination, we can determine that only Houghton seniors and college staff. A decent amount, but we can narrow it down a bit further. The nearest liquor store is roughly a hundred miles away (and even then, it's not so much a liquor as a gas station that sells beer). This means that only seniors with cars will have access to liquor, as will various members of the staff. Despite the small number of students and staff who will actually have access to alcohol, the controversy still rages.

Secondly, let us attempt to predict what a change in the rule would do the college financially.

While most of those who make donations to Houghton care little for policy alteration, there is a minority who's charity is proportionate to the amount of change in the Community Covenant since their college days. The recent change in the dancing policy has led some donors to stop giving. A change in the drinking policy would almost assuredly have a similar affect only on a larger scale. All in all, Houghton could up to a couple thousand dollars in charitable donations. While the college would doubtlessly lose money, in the long run we must ask ourselves "what is the price of this freedom? Is a few thousand dollars in funding enough to alter our positions on a policy? Who are we changing the policy for anyways?", and so on.

Thirdly, we must look at the potential implications for the college itself.

Colleges nearly always bring to mind images of frat house parties, binge drinking, and wild bacchanaliae out on the quad. Granted, some colleges are like that but in general the amount of partying and drinking that occurs on campuses is greatly exaggerated. Nevertheless, some students at Houghton are under the impression that this, or at least something similar, will happen to the college if drinking is permitted. I myself have even heard the quote "Even if they leave campus to drink... they're just gonna come back drunk...", suggesting that drunkenness is immediately associated with drinking (and indeed, it is, however it must be understood that while if you are drunk, you must have consumed alcohol, that fact that you've consumed alcohol does not necessarily mean you're drunk). Adding in the factor that the nearest liquor store is miles away and that only a handful of students can drink, one can safely predict that our Houghton isn't about to become Nero's Rome.

So now that we've had a look at the implications for the college's moral stability, financial situation, and student body (the few who can drink, anyways), what conclusions may we arrive at?
Is drinking going to harm the student body at Houghton? Considering how few students can actually drink, probably not. Is drinking going to harm the college's finances? Definitely, but we can't let money influence our principles- otherwise we're just stating that we can be bribed. Is drinking going to destroy Houghton's moral standing- no way.

Even so, we are left with more questions.
Is drinking even morally acceptable in and of itself? Providing you don't become a raging alcoholic, then yes- it is. If Jesus did it, the rest of us can as well.
Will the policy change encourage alcoholism? Not at all. As has been stated before, alcohol is extremely difficult to obtain here, even for those who can buy it legally. With today's gas prices, students aren't going to be constantly driving out to drink cheap beer in a gas station parking lot. Is this an endorsement of drinking? Absolutely not. Simply because a person is given the option of doing something does not mean that the person's choice is sanctioned by the one who gives the choice. Would a change in the Community Covenant allow the staff to live by a double-standard, being able to drink while students are forbidden? So long as the staff members are above the drinking age, then no, there would be no double standard.

So what's the final verdict? Let the rule be changed. A handful of students occasionally guzzling a beer or two or a professor relaxing with a glass of red wine isn't going to hurt anyone. Who knows? Perhaps that extra bit of relaxation will help seniors not stress out about finals and professors have some well deserved release from grading midterms.

Time to eat, drink, and be merry.

Cheers!