As a very interactive student at Ohio University, I urge the people of Athens to be more aware of the drinking problem in the dorms and in bars.
Currently, students who are underage are being persuaded to go to local Athens bars to drink on "Thirsty Thursday" because they get alcohol while being underage. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in a matter of two years, an annual average of 2,221 alcohol poisoning deaths occurred among persons aged under 15 years old in the United States.
Checking underage students’ IDs properly or requiring another form of ID would be the safest for the Athens community. Students who are of age to drink could go into the bars without the worry about underage students in the bar getting drunk. The undercover cops’ jobs wouldn’t be as difficult if the people of Athens cracked down on the underage drinking and the fake IDs being processed on campus. This university would be looked at in a more positive manner instead of just a party school, and the students can focus on their academics.
There are members of the community in the university that would say that becoming stricter about the drinking on campus would be too difficult and too much to handle. The university needs to have a meeting with the bars on campus and examine the problems that have been going on in the bars and the streets. As for the bouncers at the bars, these people need to truly inspect the IDs and make sure they aren’t fakes, since the underage students have found the tricks of getting into bars to get alcohol on certain nights.
I urge all students on campus to talk to friends who have fakes, and to encourage students to get rid of them because they are dangerous. The drinking age is set at 21 years old for a reason. Students should not be lying on the College Green, passed out drunk and think that it’s okay. Underage students skip class because of hangovers, and they end up failing classes caused by the lack of attendance. We need to make sure underage students are taught to make the right choices, and older students need to be good role models.
Lauren Hale is a freshman studying sociology/criminology at Ohio University.
