Underage drinking unstoppable
Nothing can be done to stop underage drinking, a residence director said.
Jessica Ward, the residence director for Taylor and Lawson halls, said “I don’t make the rules, I just enforce them.”
Ward said the university does more to prevent underage drinking than any other school she has been at but added that nothing can be done to stop underage drinking at a university.
“Look at the culture,” said Ward. “When students come to college, that’s what they have preconceived.”
Although drinking alcohol under the age of 21 is illegal, the Centers for Disease and Prevention said alcohol is the most commonly used and abused drug problem among youth in the United States. In 2009, an estimated 28 percent of youth between the ages of 12-20 consumed alcohol in the United States.
“Alcohol is very common, and when dealing with drugs, you never know what’s behind the door,” Ward said. “I don’t think alcohol is as dangerous to be honest.”
The University Police Department is called when students are caught with drugs in residence halls but not when alcohol is found on an underage student, Ward said.
“If we called the police every time we had a suspicion of someone drinking, we wouldn’t have enough police officers because drinking is a lot more common than drug use,” Ward said.
A 2010 Core Survey on alcohol and other drug use among college students in Illinois showed 84.6 percent of college students surveyed consumed alcohol during that past year.
Lasha Porter, a junior elementary education major and first-year resident assistant, said she has dealt with some rough situations dealing with residents in Taylor Hall. She said at least four police reports have been made this semester dealing with students.
However, Porter said she has not had any problems with the girls on her floor.
“As an RA, you have to build relationships with people and gain their trust,” Porter said. “I don’t have any suspicion of any of the girls hiding things from me, and I don’t think they would because of the good relationships that we have built.”
Taylor Whittington, a junior sociology major and an RA at Taylor Hall, said they can only do so much, and they can only deal with what they see.
Whittington said he has not had to deal with any underage drinking incidents but thinks that he cannot say for sure that it is not a problem.
“We’re not here to go search people,” Whittington said. “If something does come up, we’re just there to make sure everyone is safe and follow protocol, which would be to report it to our supervisors, and after that, they take care of it.”
Ward does remind students under 21 that although alcohol-related incidents are not reported to the police, consequences still remain.
“I was at the University of Kansas, and if you were to get drunk we would give you a slap on the wrist, but here it’s not a slap on the wrist,” Ward said. “Here, if you mess up again, you could look at suspension.”
Ward said she has been at Eastern for five years and since she began working at the university, alcohol related incidents have declined, but she said nothing can be done to stop underage drinking.
“Students are going to do what they’re going to do,” Ward said. “Students are going to drink underage; it’s going to happen. All we can do is deal with the situations when we see them.”
Aldo Soto can be reached at 581-2812 or asoto2@eiu.edu.