For MC’s seniors, the majority of its juniors and a few sophomores, the luxury of being twenty-one or older, and legal, is a blessing during our college years. It is a time for making memories, both good and bad, and deciding whether to take that other drink with your friends or to say enough is enough!

  
However, Manchester College is a dry campus, which means that there is to be absolutely no alcoholic beverages at any time on campus, not even for celebratory or tailgating reasons! This then results in students rebelling and sneaking alcohol into their dorms in hopes of not getting caught or written up.

  
Should MC continue to be a dry campus? There have been many students who have complained and tried to campaign against this “ridiculous ruling,” as some students have stated, but all their efforts have proved unsuccessful because MC is still a dry campus. Many students, both legal and underage have asked, “What will it take to turn MC from a dry to wet campus? How many more students need to be written up and reprimanded, only to turn around and continue to still drink on campus?”

    
A couple of weeks ago, a few of my friends, who live in the dorm, were minding their own business and having a good time on a Friday night, with the help of alcohol. However, their night ended in disaster because someone caught them and called campus security. From talking to my friends, Jason Bendix, a sophomore who is twenty, Justin Wulf, a junior who is twenty-one and Chris Null, a junior who is twenty-three, they said that a few of the campus security men were rude and a bit forceful with them and their other friends who were there at the time. Campus Security even went through Null’s room in search of more incriminating evidence and trying to find students who may have been hiding.

  
Is this the way to treat our students just because they had alcohol? They weren’t being loud or ridiculous and the only thing they were guilty of is having alcohol in their possession. “It hardly seems fair for students of legal age to get reprimanded for something that they are legally allowed to do,” Null said. “Especially since we weren’t bothering anyone or being loud and running around.”

  
Most notable wet campuses are the University of Notre Dame and Hanover College, which has placed a bar inside its student union as a place to gather and meet up with friends for a drink or two. Hanover students can even purchase alcoholic beverages at a small café/convenience store on campus. Also, when tailgating for sporting events, people are allowed to consume alcohol outside of the sporting arena, but students of age or older must wear wristbands to indicate their legal status.

The way I see it is that by making a campus wet and even placing a designated ‘watering hole’ prevents rebellious behavior and even some accidents from happening that are the result of secretive drinking and wild off-campus parties.  College is the time in our lives where we learn and receive a great education, have new experiences and meet all sorts of people from different social networks and step outside of our comfort zones. Students obtain the ultimate educational and social experience that one can only get from going to college. Not having to worry about getting reprimanded for alcoholic beverages would only make the college experience and dorm environment more enjoyable and instill responsibility among students.

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