Most people associate the term "dry campus" with religious or conservative colleges such as Liberty University and Christopher Newport University. This assumption is very wrong. My own school, Radford University, Virginia's most notorious party school, is, in fact, a dry campus. This rule was implemented in 2010 to combat the school's negative public image. However, what administration fails to realize is that making a campus "dry" does not decrease the amount of partying or the amount of alcohol that students consume during their four years at the institution. Actually, by making the campus "dry" and instating harsh punishments upon being caught with alcohol or simply while drunk on campus, the school is really only creating an environment in which young adults are too afraid to go home or seek help while alcohol is in their system, which could have horrible or even deadly consequences.
It's common knowledge that young adults drink. Even young adults, such as myself, who never had a sip of alcohol in high school, find themselves getting into the college spirit upon their parents leaving on move-in day. That amount of newly independent 18-year-olds, many who have never been drunk before, all going out and drinking is a troublesome picture. Most schools have some sort of assembly in which they explain to students how to be safe while inebriated and many offer services, usually provided by local police, to get them back to their apartment or dorm room safe and sound after a night of partying. When a campus is designated as a "dry campus", these services are still offered but come hand in hand with punishments such as a steep fine, a letter home, mandatory alcohol education classes (Virginia Alcohol Safety Action Program or VASAP), and a strike against the student which, on the third strike, may result in expulsion. That's not to mention the possible day in court and mark on one's permanent record should local police find the drunk student stumbling around town rather than just a campus official.
Due to these severe consequences for doing what every college student does, many students do not seek help even when they may need it. This could have dozens of dangerous results, from young women choosing to go home with a guy they just met and ending up sexual assault or rape victims because they didn't want to chance it by heading back to campus to a student dying of alcohol poisoning because they (or their friends) were too afraid to call emergency services.
Making a campus "dry" will not and can not stop young adults from being young adults. The school should be far more concerned with the health and safety of its students than the school's image as a "party school." Every school is a party school. That's just part of college. The school needs to worry about how to educate students about the risks that come with drinking and ensure that they feel comfortable asking for help when they need it and that this help comes free of negative consequences.
While calling a school "dry" may impress prospective students' parents, it's not worth risking the lives and well-being of the students. So before the decision to ban alcohol on campus is made, think about what's worse publicity- students partying on the weekends or students ending up dead to avoid getting into trouble?
