A proposed revision to Carleton’s alcohol control strategy puts binge drinking and alcohol abuse in the crosshairs.
Carleton already has stringent regulations that force frosh facilitators to forego alcohol, and prevent the two campus pubs from serving alcohol to anyone under 21 years of age during frosh week, but the university is considering taking things one step further.
One of the new revisions takes a page out of Queen’s University’s book, and suggests making all residences dry for the duration of frosh week. Such an extreme measure could work against Carleton’s goal of ensuring student safety.
To follow the proposed regulation, underage students who choose to drink would be forced out of the relative safety of residence and into the unfamiliar and unsafe clubs of Hull.
On campus, students are not only surrounded by peers and residence fellows, but also have fast access to the Carleton University Student Emergency Response Team (CUSERT) and campus safety if things get messy.
A group of first-year students out in Hull could be unprepared and at the mercy of emergency services’ response times if the same thing happened across the bridge.
Rather than preaching abstinence and driving students away from campus, Carleton should focus on educating them about safe drinking practices.
Especially in Ottawa where underage students can easily hop on a bus to find legal booze 20 minutes away, education should be more important.
Having well-informed students drinking in their dorms is much better than having ill-informed students roaming the streets of Hull in search of alcohol.
