IT'S LATE on a Saturday night and you're at an off-Grounds party.You've had a couple beers but are getting ready to head home after a long night. Suddenly, the police show up and chaos reigns. You end up face-to-face with an officer peppering you with questions; there's no drink in your hand so you think you're in the clear, but then the officer reminds you that House Bill 2255, recently signed into law by Governor Warner, criminalizes "consumption" of alcohol, so that drink that you weren't holding does little to get you off the hook. The host of the party is equally shocked to learn that the same law now criminalizes "providing" alcohol to minors, not just "purchasing" for someone underage. On the drive to the magistrate's office, both of you sit and ponder why the University didn't better publicize the new law and why the Virginia General Assembly has its priorities mixed up.
While the probability of the above scenario playing itself out remains to be seen, the wording and passage of HB 2255 are both concrete facts. The bill, introduced by University alumnus Del. Rob Bell, R-Albemarle, makes consuming alcohol as a minor or providing alcohol to a minor a class I misdemeanor as of July 1. Part of the rationale, as Bell explained recently to C-Ville Weekly, is that, "It is unlawful if someone is under 21 to possess, but the courts have never been clear if that includes possession in your stomach or blood. In some places it was worse to have a beer in your hand than in your stomach."
Whether it's in first-year dorms, apartment parties or Rugby Road, underage consumption is a fact of life at the University and the number of underage drinkers, on-Grounds and off, on any given Friday or Saturday night undoubtedly numbers in the thousands. This means that the number of students potentially affected by the new Virginia alcohol lawis at least that many. Earlier this semester, the new sexual assault policies were announced by the administration with much fanfare in The Cavalier Daily, as well as e-mails sent out to the entire University community.Other policy changes, such as the University Judiciary Committee decision to expand its jurisdiction, have also been touted in e-mails from Vice President for Student Affairs Pat Lampkin. Granted, while the new law is a by-product of the General Assembly and not the University administration, it's still curious as to why the administration has remained silent on the passage of the new alcohol law.
Now that HB 2255 has been passed, it seems likely to stick; however, the bill reflects the General Assembly's poor understanding of the underage drinking problem.Heavy underage drinking on college campuses has always existed and will always exist.It's a simple case of supply and demand: College students want to drink and are provided with a myriad of choices through which they accomplish their goal.No law and no amount of law enforcement are going to foreclose underage college students from drinking. Politicians craftily point to drunk driving as a consequence of underage drinking in an effort to deflect criticism of a seemingly pointless bill. But changing the old alcohol law to now read "consumption" instead of "possession" is not going to deter anyone stupid enough to get behind the wheel intoxicated. The General Assembly, in passing HB 2255, also tacitly ignored other problems, specifically on college campuses. Underage drinking is often associated with fake IDs, a much more serious concern. The volume of fake-ID creation at the University is impossible to calculate, but it is relatively easy to obtain one for the right price, usually around $50. Why fake IDs aren't more of a concern to the General Assembly is baffling; a fake can just as easily be used to gain entrance to O'Neil's on a Friday night as it can be to board an airline flight, but with potentially much more disastrous consequences in the latter case.
Underage drinking at the University will certainly continue even in the face of HB 2255. But the University administration has an obligation to inform the student community about the new state alcohol guidelines, disregarded by students as they may be. But more importantly, the General Assembly should realize how silly it looks passing laws that will net perhaps a handful more arrests for underage drinking out of the thousands of instances of underage consumption that occur every weekend on college campuses. Our legislators should spend time and energy devoted to educating youth on how to drink responsibly, rather than blindly ignoring the inevitability of underage drinking.
Joe Schilling's column appears Tuesday in The Cavalier Daily. He can be reached at jschilling@cavalierdaily.com
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