Oregon daily emerald., May 21, 1999, Page 2A, Image 2

%
NEWSROOM:
(541)346-5511
E-MAIL
ode@oregon. uoregon.edu
ON-LINE EDITION:
www.dailyemerald.com
EDITOR IN CHIEF
Ryan Frank
EDITORIAL EDITORS
KameronCole
Stefanie Knowlton
Beer Goggles
Students and
administrators
fail to see the truth
about alcohol
Opinion
It may as well be poured all over us, & la “Leaving Las
Vegas,” when we enter campus. Alcohol, for better or
worse, is an unavoidable truth in college. Whether you
partake or not, you’ll no doubt be personally affected
in some way by the “juice” — through drunken neighbors,
a roommate or your own tipsy self.
Despite its omnipotence, however, alcohol is misunder
stood by most people on campus. The University ap
proaches student alcohol consumption with schizo
phrenic zeal, telling people it’s really not
that prevalent while spending hundreds of
thousands of dollars to contain it.
Students, on the other hand, glorify alco
hol abuse as an inherited rite of passage and
a free pass to wreak havoc.
They’re both wrong.
After three straight Halloween riots, the
University is on the brink of panic. With
pressure from City Hall, University Presi
dent Dave Frohnmayer and compatriots are
working hard to lower student alcohol use,
which they presumably see as a problem of
epic proportions. But the Johnson Hall gang
is going about this in a strange way.
With deep pockets, including $236,000 from the U.S.
Department of Education to reduce binge drinking and
marijuana use, administrators have embarked on a cam
paign involving outreach to freshmen and student groups,
stronger enforcement of alcohol policies and more late
night social opportunities.
But most visible to students has been the message
preached by ads in this paper and public relations peons
that students really don’t drink that much alcohol. Based
on a 2-year-old survey, the University likes to tell people
that 29 percent of students average 0 drinks per week or
that “only” 72 percent of students drink at least once a
month.
Forget the survey, which does nothing to dispute the fact
that a lot of students drink a lot of alcohol. The University
is sending mixed messages in an effort to coerce students
to stop drinking by presenting numbers in a misleading
way. Seventy-two percent of students drinking each
month, for example, is nothing to brag about, even if most
students think that number is greater.
Students do drink — a lot—and when they do, it’s
rarely in moderation. The University would do much bet
ter to show students the realities of alcohol use, which of
ten aren’t pretty.
These hard realities are even more ignored, however, by
students. For us, drinking is like the big fish caught; hours,
days and months later, it becomes more exciting, glam
ourous and admirable when it was never really that great
to begin with.
This isn’t to say that alcohol isn’t fun. It has the power tc
make an average night memorable, so-so company
engaging and a boring location bearable. But it hardly
measures up to our innumerable boasts, recollec- W
tions and legends, which are seen through eyes that .
would rather perceive ourselves as cooler and more j
cutting-edge and care-free than we really are.
Alcohol, for all its benefits, is ugly. It leads
more often to sick stomachs, drunken driving a
and painful mornings than any sort of linger- V
ing happiness. Riots and other civil disturbances
are more infrequent byproducts. And worse, alco
hol leads to the most deified social outlet of our
time: the bar scene.
Like alcohol itself, the bar scene is labeled as
collegiate nirvana, where students can come to
gether with the same bacchanalian goals in mind.
But the dark secret that nobody talks about, that
floats throughout each crowded bar stool and
pool table, is this: Nobody really loves going to
the bars. They only do it because there is noth
ing else to do.
This relegates the bar scene to top dog among
meager competition, including a rousing game of
Balderdash in the dorm room or going to the
movie theater for the third time this week. With al
tematives such as this, it’s understandable why
students go to the bars, but it’s high time they
started being honest about their motives.
In the end, alcohol is a study in college stu
dent frustration. Contrary to administrative opin
ion, we’ve made drinking an unchangeable part of
college life. But despite our foolish dreams, lifting
a glass will never bring contentment to our lan
guid, uncertain college lives. Let’s stop fooling
ourselves to the contrary.
Ashley Bach is a columnist for the
Emerald. His views do not
necessarily represent
those of the newspaper.
Letters to the Editor
NATO justified
I’m having a little trouble with recent
protests on campus (ODE, May 12). Regard
ing the anti-NATO bombing rally, Jason
Wilkinson claims that if the NATO bomb
ing is stopped “everyone is allowed to
maintain their human rights.”
Last time I looked, the basic definition of
human rights did not include the treatment
being afforded to the Kosovar Albanians by
the Serbs.
Basic human rights includes freedom
from the wanton rape and slaughter of your
people, and the right to live peaceably in
your homeland. This was not something
they had before the bombing, and there is
no reason to believe things would be better
for the Albanians if the bombing were to
suddenly cease.
Would the protesters at the May 11 rally
care to offer any positive suggestions rather
than just make empty criticisms?
Maria Blum
Eugene
No whining
I'm writing in response to Michael
Dixon’s sniveling letter (ODE, May 11).
Dixon asks, “Who really wants me to quit
senate?”
Drannr, /"W/./ II... 0-4 -4 ft/W
I do, for one, just based on your self-pity
ing letter alone. So, “The last couple of
weeks have been very stressful, nerve
wracking and disappointing.”
Hello? Does taking responsibility for your
actions ring any bells with you? Why
should the ODE support you and your ac
tions?
How was Dixon supporting students by
stealing from them? How was h§ supporting
the University by using keys given to him in
trust to commit the thefts? Grow up,
Michael, and quit your whining self-pity
and accept the consequences for your ac
tions.
Marianne Koller
Fine Arts
Say no to FLA
The hottest, most unknown issue sweep
ing our country’s campuses is corporate and
university ties to sweatshop labor.
Corporate codes of conduct are being cre
ated to establish standards for corporations
that market university trademark apparel so
as to improve conditions and end sweat
shop labor.
The University administration is interest
ed in implementing a code of conduct for
the University. Due to the recent publicity
on sweatshop labor, our administration
feels it necessary to sign onttf a code as soon
as possible.
Many campuses across the country have
adopted the Fair Labor Association code of
conduct. I’m concerned that our University
will sign onto such a weak code without
spending money or time to research a
stronger more viable code, leading the way
in improving global workplace standards.
The FLA charter document, or code of
conduct, was drafted by the Apparel Indus
try Partnership. The AIP was established
through a federal executive order to end
sweatshop labor.
This partnership consists of both labor
and industry representatives and includes
large business CEOs Phil Knight of Nike,
Kathie Lee Gifford, AFL-CIO and UNITE,
among others.
The three largest labor and human-rights
representatives UNTIE, AFL-CIO and ICCR,
dropped out of the partnership because it’s
very weak and problematic.
I strongly urge the University to not sign
onto any such document but to work with
students to create a viable code of conduct.
Please attend a community forum address
ing a corporate code of conduct on May 24
at 7 p.m. in Willamette 100.
W. Douglas Serill
Environmental Studies
UETTl&S POLICY
The Oregon Daily Emerald will attempt to
print all letters containing comments on top
ics of interest to the University community.
Letters must be limited to 250words. The
Emerald reserves the right to edit any letter
for length, clarity, grammar, style and libel.
Letters may be dropped off at EMU Suite 300.
CORRECTION
In the May 20 article, “Protesters demand di
versity changes," Huy Ong should have been
identified as being from the Multicultural
Center.
In the May 19 article, “College students at
high risk of abusive relationships," the tips
on how to stop abusing and the statistic that
90 to 95 percent of domestic violence victims
are women should have attributed to the Uni
versity Counseling Center.
The Emerald regrets the errors.