The decision to extend an alcohol-in-residence ban to Frosh Week 2012 is a discouraging sign from Queen’s administration.
A Jan. 31 press release from Queen’s communication announced the decision to extend the ban alongside news that Coroner Roger Skinner aproved of changes to Queen’s alcohol policy.
The coroner recommended a review of the policy in May 2011 after the accidental deaths of two first-year students.
It’s a typical announcement from an administration that seems more keen on repairing reputations than on effecting true change.
The press release also stated that a committee is currently reviewing the AMS Non-academic Discipline System — as per the coroner’s recommendations.
Any attempt to remove the AMS’s control over non-academic discipline will further patronize the students at this school.
The alcohol ban means that even students who are of age aren’t able to drink in residence during Frosh Week 2012.
First-year students aren’t children who need hand-holding, and when restrictive rules are imposed, people tend to circumvent them.
The ban doesn’t stop students from drinking and instead causes them to be more discreet about their habits. When students aren’t able to drink in their rooms, they’re more likely to wander into the Student Ghetto or downtown — unfamiliar areas that are less safe.
Queen’s drinking culture has yet to see significant change.
Sixty-three residence citations were given out during last Frosh Week, compared to 55 in 2010; this increase has been attributed to a greater crackdown on drinking. If the number of drinking citations has increased, it’s indeterminable whether or not the ban has actually reduced consumption.
The administration issued a survey to all first-year students to gauge their responses to the alcohol ban. But these responses weren’t made public, even though the survey was used in part to justify the continuation of the ban. It’s unclear how many students responded honestly, and how reliable the survey results are.
Instead of creating a prohibitive atmosphere, policy should seek to make residence safe and comfortable. New regulations that limit the amount of alcohol allowed in a room are misguided. Residents are limited to possessing 24 cans of beer at one time.
Possessing large quantities of alcohol isn’t dangerous but consuming it is. Changing Queen’s drinking culture isn’t dependent on restricting the amount of alcohol in residence rooms.
It’s just a rubber stamp of action without real results.
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