While the University's concern for the welfare of its students is admirable, the administration needs to rethink how it deals with underage drinking. The binge drinking task force is as misguided as it is ineffective. While it is always comforting to be able to point a finger, underage drinking is not an insidious plague sweeping across college campuses. The administration and its task forces are not the cure to a social plague. But this issue is not so simple.
Alcohol abuse is a serious problem nationwide, on or off college campuses.
But the witchunt aimed at people under 21 years of age is not an effective nor sensible solution. For one thing, the University's task force has fashioned itself more as a looming parental figure than a concerned educator. Such a claim is suspect at best. Rather than trying to define who is an irresponsible drinker, efforts to combat alcohol abuse should focus on educating people of all ages. By providing students with a useful forum for discussing the dangers of excessive drinking rather than trying to nip the underage drinking problem in the bud, the University would be doing students a service.