No, I am not upset about Stanford's decision to ban alcohol on their campus because I am a college student that believes drinking is the number one priority. I am upset about Stanford's decision about banning alcohol because once again it is suggested that alcohol is to blame for why a rape happens.

Students can still drink wine and beer at on-campus parties, but they can no longer drink alcohol that has more that 20 percent alcohol by volume or is 40 proof. With that, this new policy also restricts the consumption of hard liquor that they are permitted to keep in their dorms or common areas to under 750 milligrams.

I don't disagree with banning alcohol on a college campus, as my campus is also an alcohol free zone, but I disagree in the timing of it and the reasoning behind it.

Why is this an issue to me? There are a number of reasons why, but one of the most frustrating is that not only is this victim blaming to the woman that was unfortunately raped, but it is also letting the rapist, Brock Turner, off the hook. This doesn't just pertain to this situation either, this is letting rapists across the country off the hook because their victim was drunk, so she must have been "asking for it."

This entire case has been one ridiculous thing after another, starting with how it was presented in the news, to how light his sentencing was, to the repercussions that he didn't face, to now with Stanford not taking a real stand in the matter but instead choosing to ban alcohol.

Rapes do not happen because of how much the victim has drank, because of what the victim was wearing or because the victim was asking for it in anyway. It is important to always keep that in mind. Lately, I have been hearing and seeing a lot about how "rape culture" doesn't exist or that we aren't facing an epidemic and I believe it is because rapes across the world are not taken serious enough. Ignoring what is happening or being ignorant to it is not helping anyone, especially those who are needing our help the most.