Monday, 5 June 2006

Explaining the satellite trucks

The Duke administration officially reinstated the men’s lacrosse team today; Margaret Soltan greets the news positively.

While I agree the institution didn’t take the easy way out—something of a surprise to me, especially given the charges given the various and sundry committees convened by President Brodhead—I am rather unconvinced of the central premise that Demon Rum (and its relatives) is the scourge at the root of the “campus culture” problems of the modern residential college or university, either at Duke or anywhere else.

I particularly wonder whether the university will detect the difference between promoting the responsible use of alcohol with the neoprohibitionist agenda. Given universities’ general willingness to be deputized by the MPAA and RIAA already, adding MADD (née the WCTU) to the alphabet soup would be another easy—but wrongheaded—step.

3 comments:

Any views expressed in these comments are solely those of their authors; they do not reflect the views of the authors of Signifying Nothing, unless attributed to one of us.

right on…most of today’s campus problems can be linked to the high drinking age. would any of this had happened if it had been an on campus party with watery beer from cheap kegs?

 

Hey, I really like your blog here. I have been checking it out for a little while! Very informative.

Keep it up!
Phil Ayres

blog.myfantasyball.com

 
[Permalink] 3. Common Sense wrote @ Mon, 12 Jun 2006, 6:59 pm CDT:

No, most of today’s campus problems can be linked to idiot students not knowing when to stop. If it was watery beer from cheap kegs, they’d just be drunk AND sick.

 
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