EDITORIAL & OPINION: Don't rush to conclusions

A spate of alcohol-related incidents shows just how hard it is to solve the problems associated with drinking. Taken in isolation, any one of the events -- the death of a FIJI alumnus, the alcohol-related hospitalization of a Quad freshman and a host of underage drinking citations at two sorority parties -- would be a source of concern. Indeed, many will demand a re-examination of Penn's policies on and attitudes toward alcohol use in the wake of this confluence of events. That is a natural outgrowth of the desire to act quickly, to find the "one solution" ensuring that alcohol never again will play such a central role in so many tragic and unfortunate events. But precisely because that urge is such a powerful one, it bears scrutiny. Clearly, the hospitalization of a freshman who drank to excess is an event no one wants to see repeated. But it stands in ironic counterbalance to the citations for underage drinking handed out at Pi Beta Phi and Chi Omega events Saturday night. A knee-jerk reaction to either incident seems foolish in light of the other. We have often highlighted just how ineffective underage drinking busts are, yet what if a bust could have prevented Saturday night's hospitalization? Conversely, what good are citations if students drink in the privacy of their own rooms? And what to make of the death of a FIJI alumnus after an annual alumni dinner where alcohol may have been served? Any definitive statement on Michael Tobin's death awaits the coroner's report, all the more reason to pause and consider. Such thought would be a productive outgrowth of an alcohol-induced weekend that has once again demonstrated both the problems caused by drinking to excess in its own right, and the varied and harmful consequences of the current ambiguous and cross-purposed attempts to address the issues associated with drinking. In the wake of this weekend, the community as a whole must give thought to how we relate to alcohol, and what responsibility we bear for our own drinking and that of our friends and acquaintances. Now is the time for students to consider their own personal responsibility, and for administrators to consider the degree to which, ultimately, students must be given responsibility for their own actions.

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