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Posts tagged ‘alcohol’

Sep 22

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51 Main Street, a review

We complain about our social lives. What other way is there to pass the weekend other than drinking our weekday sorrows away in our dorm rooms? After all, what is there to do in the middle of nowhere? …and so goes our line of questioning.

51 Main is not THE answer. But it is an answer to our social life question. I visited twice in the past two weeks and decided, above all else, 51 Main is refreshing. It’s something new. And that’s enough to get me excited. Swanky, smooth, dark, and rich – the place really does add a whole new meaning to going out to town.

And it’s the community that really makes this place light up. After a performance at the Town Hall Theater, a whole bunch of folks filtered into 51 Main to hear some jazz and chat over drinks. I said hi to a former professor, an associate dean, various groups of friends who were scattered around. I stole a stawberry off the plate of a friend’s chocolate mousse. It felt rather grown-up, something you don’t often feel when “going out” on a Friday night.

It is that idea of going to a bar, chatting over drinks, mingling with friends and meeting new people that is so enticing and new. And the “grown-up” feeling and community interaction is the best and most concrete answer I’ve seen so far to the perplexing question of alcohol on campus. I didn’t drink a drop of alcohol that night but still had the opportunity to be part of the scene in a legit way. It’s what The Grille’s juice bar/alcohol bar originally was built for but never worked out.

For all the jabs I take at the administration, they did this one right. The Bunker and 51 Main have and will develop into real options for students on a weekend night. And getting the right venues has been a long time coming.

Now let’s hope 51 Main survives winter. Students barely want to walk to dining halls much less downtown. Then again, McCullough to 51 Main is the same distance as BiHall to McCullough.

Sep 21

NYTimes Against Lowering Drinking Age

Our friends over at Wesleying tipped us off that the NYTimes recently ran an editorial against lowering the drinking age:

The college executives are right to be alarmed about the binge drinking that besieges their campuses. But there is no proof that easier access to alcohol would solve that problem, and there is strong evidence that college administrations could do a lot more than they are doing to combat the alcohol epidemic.

MiddBlog wants to know: How much weight does a NYTimes editorial hold?

Aug 19

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Choose Responsibility Launches Amethyst Initiative

Choose Responsibility, an organization founded by Middlebury College President Emeritus John McCardell whose goal is to lower the nation’s drinking age, launched the Amethyst Initiative last month.

The Amethyst Initiative seeks to bring college and university leaders together to take a stand against legal age 21. Participating administrators have signed a statement saying:

In 1984 Congress passed the National Minimum Drinking Age Act, which imposed a penalty of 10% of a state’s federal highway appropriation on any state setting its drinking age lower than 21.

Twenty-four years later, our experience as college and university presidents convinces us that…

A culture of dangerous, clandestine “binge-drinking”—often conducted off-campus—has developed.

Alcohol education that mandates abstinence as the only legal option has not resulted in significant constructive behavioral change among our students.

Adults under 21 are deemed capable of voting, signing contracts, serving on juries and enlisting in the military, but are told they are not mature enough to have a beer.

By choosing to use fake IDs, students make ethical compromises that erode respect for the law.

The approximately 120 signatories include President Rebecca S. Chopp (Colgate University), President James E. Wright (Dartmouth College), President Richard Brodhead (Duke University), President William Brody (Johns Hopkins University), President Lawrence S. Bacow (Tufts University), and Middlebury’s own President Ronald D. Liebowitz.

In case you are as puzzled as I was about the meaning behind the name of the initiative, its website explains:

The word Amethyst is derived from the Ancient Greek words meaning “not” (a-) and “intoxicated” (methustos). …

In Ancient Greece, drinking vessels and jewelry were often made of amethyst and used during feasts and celebrations to ward off drunkenness and to promote moderation.

The amethyst is thus a meaningful symbol for this initiative, which aims to encourage moderation and responsibility as an alternative to the drunkenness and reckless decisions about alcohol that mark the experience of many young Americans.

MiddBlog wants to know: Do you agree with the aims of the Amethyst Initiative? What are your thoughts on President Liebowitz having signed the statement?

Update, 8/24: Ron Liebowitz has addressed the Amethyst Initiative on his own blog and is curious to know your thoughts on the matter.

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