For college students, public discourse and debate are staples of life. Throughout the past several months, debate over the installment of Tufts' alcohol policy has been on the minds of students on the Hill. The administration has undoubtedly had good reason to take action in an attempt to increase alcohol-related safety and awareness on campus. As overseers of campus life, it is the administration's duty to do its best to look out for its students. The university cannot simply ignore the fact that excessive consumption of alcohol and underage drinking are both serious problems on campus.
While the Daily agrees that alcohol safety is certainly a vital concern, responses from the student body have made it clear that the current alcohol policy is extremely problematic and is not supported by the majority of students. Although past Tufts Community Union Senate surveys have been criticized as only interviewing a small subset of students on campus, the Senate's most recent survey took this potential bias into consideration. The Senate worked with Professor Kent Portney of the political science department to create a more accurate survey that reached a greater diversity of students on campus and addressed possible issues that might slant the survey in one direction.
Results from the new survey show that 61.7 percent of students who participated claimed that the policy has not affected their drinking habits. Data also showed that 44.5 percent claimed that they are less likely to call Tufts Emergency Medical Services in a dangerous situation involving alcohol for fear that repercussions under the policy will lead to negative consequences for the students involved. Portney pointed out that this number may be skewed, because students who disapprove of the policy may have falsely reported their response to this question, but it nevertheless remains true that the policy has made many students uncomfortable looking to the university for help when an alcohol-related problem arises.
The results of the Senate's new survey serve to reinforce a sentiment that students have been attempting to convey since the inception of these regulations: The benefits do not outweigh the problems with the policy.
We appreciate that the administration is trying to help students, but ultimately, we should have more of a say in the decisions that are made on our behalf. The Senate exists so that students can have a say in the policies on campus and so that new rules are made as a community. If the administration refuses to listen to the pleas of the student body and its representative student government, the democratic function of the system is essentially nonexistent. The alcohol policy may have been well-intentioned, but overall it has become clear that the installment was not successful.
We urge the administration to take the Senate survey results seriously and listen to what the student body has to say. If we cannot work together as a unified Tufts community and listen to each other's opinions, relations between students and the administration will undoubtedly become strained.
