I’m sure my jaw shouldn’t drop at this sort of glimpse at the thinking of dorm-dwelling undergraduates, and yet it does. Every single time.
From an article in the school paper about violations of the university’s student conduct code:
Some students say one problem is students might not know the policies and consequences and that maybe why they break them.
“I don’t know the consequences,” [one freshman] said. “I know it’s in the student handbook, but I don’t think anyone reads that.”
[Another freshman] agreed.
“I think it’s in the student handbook,” she said. “But that’s like 50 pages long, I’m not going to read that.”
Heck, if a four page syllabus is too long to read, of course a 50 page handbook is out of the question.
Ouch, I hope that isn’t a journalism student. Isn’t there a faculty advisor who helps the reporters work on their prose? Or at least basic English grammar?
So, you have people who are living away from home for the first time in their lives. They are effectively living as adults, and yet you say they cannot drink alcohol?
That is just an astonishingly stupid system and it is hardly surprising when they *gasp* drink alcohol!
“it is hardly surprising when they *gasp* drink alcohol”
…or smoke dope or take X or romp like bunnies or develop eating disorders or….
what’s your point donalbain? “effectively living like adults” doesn’t mean that they ARE living like adults. they are learning to live like adults; part of which is learning that life has rules and that there are consequences for one’s action. so bloody what if one of the “rules” is one that will be changed when they reach 21? in this case they are only going to get a limp pat on the wrist by having to spend some time getting lectured at the health center.
I have no useful information about whether other countries with different alcohol related laws have college students who make more responsible use of alcohol than American college students (nor about relevant cultural differences around alcohol that might explain the different outcomes as well or better than the differences in the laws).
My main issues here are the apparent unwillingness of students to acquaint themselves with the institutional rules that they know are binding on them because (gulp!) it requires some reading.
How do you get to college thinking 50 pages is too much to read? Most books are longer than that, and we professorial types have a well-known penchant for books.
Has the world gone mad?!
The students have the excuse of being young and naive. I’ve worked with many professionals in the banking and IT industries who absolutely refuse to read anything more than a paragraph or two long. And most of those people were in their forties or more.
Students are young and naive. And people ostensibly at university to study can certainly be expected to read a student handbook. And even without reading it, even contemplating “I didn’t know you weren’t allowed” as an excuse for, say, academic cheating is just basically dumb.
But… I agree with posters above that they are adults. They’re off on their own, starting to live their own, independent lives as adults. The school should basically have no business involving itself into their lives other than as it relates to their academic activities.
What would be the reaction to an employer that forbade their workers from drinking alcohol on their own free time, or had views on how and with whom they hook up? Why do you accept a university treating adults that way? And apart from the moral issue, it is likely counterproductive; you send out signals to grown people that no, you’re still not really grown up, you still aren’t really responsible for your own life. Be a kid, act a kid and if you screw up we’ll take care of it.
And a confession: I spent twelve years at my university, first as an undergrad, then as a PhD student and as a research assistant. I never got around to reading any of the student guides, employment handbooks or other material. I always figured I could ask someone or look it up if I needed to. Dumb, perhaps, but my own responsibility.
As far as I can tell, the parts of the student conduct code related to alcohol use apply to students living in university housing, where the university undoubtedly has a legal responsibility (and legal liability) for what goes on. As well, I imagine that a the federal and state moneys on which the university depends could get jammed up if the university were judged to be out of compliance with whichever iteration of the “drug-free schools” act we’re on.
Which is to say, it may not be the case that the university can decide to treat freshmen as if they were responsible adults with no paternalism whatsoever — at least, not without finding alternative sources of funding (and some anti-anxiety medication for the legal department).
“How do you get to college thinking 50 pages is too much to read?”
Are you actually suggesting that students should sit down and read the handbook cover to cover? Surely the fact that it’s 50 pages long is not the problem — it’s that those are 50 extremely boring pages. Wouldn’t that time be better spent studying, socializing with their peers, exercising, or doing just about anything other than reading the student handbook? Just because a few students try to use the “we didn’t know about the consequences” excuse in an attempt to shirk responsibility for their actions does not mean that they would have acted differently had they actually known about the consequences. I think it’s fairly reasonable to assume that most students are going to have some drinks while they’re in college. Some will lose control and allow it to negatively affect their studies and their lives, but do you really think that if only they’d spent some quality time with the handbook that it would have stopped them from drinking?
it’s that those are 50 extremely boring pages
Boring like mortgage documentation, say, or employment terms and conditions. It seems to me that it’s Adult Life 101 that a lot of really boring stuff is nevertheless going to have a material effect on your activities whether you like it or not, and educating yourself about this stuff (especially only 50 pages’ worh!) is actually pretty often more important than socialising.
Does the university go out of its way to say to new students, here is the handbook, and reading it is not optional, because it has rules in which might have a major effect on you?
Mind you, looking from over the pond, it does seem a bit Canute not to let people drink legally until they’re 21.
Things must have changed in the 20 years since I was at university in the UK. Back then irresponsible use of alcohol was all part of the experience and almost a mandatory part of the experience.
Of course there is no excuse for these students not to know what the rules are. After all breaking rules is fun but you need to know what they are first.
The article says that residents are informed of the alcohol policy during community meetings, so you cannot use ignorance of the student handbook as an excuse. Plus, getting busted by an RA is a lot better than getting busted by the police. Further, every American college student knows what the drinking age is; by drinking underage they ARE being adults by consciously choosing to disobey the alcohol policy and are thus consciously deciding to accept the consequences if they are caught doing so.
As for 50 pages being too much: Thanks to text messaging and the internet, it’s hard to get students today to read beyond a few sentences. One sentence if there are too many dependent clauses.
In the end though I don’t fault them for not reading the student manual. It’s there as a reference. I haven’t read any of the penal codes for my state, and violating most of them would have a much stiffer penalty than underage drinking.
Paraphrase of email from student who failed an intro class after being told at the start of the class that if they attended and paid attention it would be hard to fail:
“I know that you told us that if we attended class it would be hard to fail but you have to understand that I am a college student and there are a lot of pressures on my time.”
Obviously, there is a disconnect between the professors’ definition of college students and those of the students, so why not one between the administration and the students.
I think introductory reading of various state laws ought to be a significant component of such high school classes as driver’s ed (parts of the vehicle and drug codes) and civics, in addition to the bill of rights and parts of the US constitution. Selected parts of actual Supreme Court decisions also should be studied.
Why would the university have any responsibility? In terms of student housing, all the university is is a landlord. If they lived off campus, their landlord would not be responsible if they had beer. Or committed murder.
And “romping like bunnies”. Are you suggesting that the sex lives of the students is any of the university’s business?
I think folks are missing the point. The students aren’t reading their handbooks. Or their textbooks. Or their syllabi.
Yesterday, when I returned a graded lab report to a student, I said “You’re having a consistent problem with identifying neutral compounds.” The student replied “Yeah, I know. I don’t care. I just was pissed off and wanted to leave the stupid lab. It’s all a waste of my time.”
You could’ve bowled me over with a feather. And this in-lab, in plain hearing of everyone else.
Why don’t they just transfer to Canadian universities?
The question is not one of reading; it is a question of whether not students have the moral turpitude to say that the laws are crap.
Of course they know that they aren’t allowed to drink.