Kat's Pajamas

By Kat McGuire

Our university has come up with a slogan I've found both in handbooks and on bright posters portraying smiling, ethnically diverse students. It reads, "Most Santa Clara students have four or fewer drinks when they party."

This is supposed to speak to our moral character.

More than once, the homily at a student mass has included a priest's joking reference to the universality of our student body's love of the drink.

As a non-drinker, I find myself objecting not only to the attitude that many of my peers have toward alcohol, but also to what I see as the university's mediocre expectations for its students. It seems to me that as a Jesuit institution that is supposed to stand for moral growth, Santa Clara should not convey the message that underage drinking is a normal and accepted pastime for its students. The argument is often made that college kids are going to drink anyway, so why not focus on getting them to drink safely.

I have a few problems with this way of thinking. First of all, I do not agree with drinking as a primary form of entertainment. Not only because it can be dangerous, but also because it is entirely uncreative. I can think of at least 50 activities that would add more to my life than going to a party to drink. So whether or not students are drinking "safely," I still think that cultivating a group of young people who immediately turn to the bottle for a good time is a pitiful achievement.

Secondly, as nice as it would be to make the party scene "safe," it can't be when there is alcohol involved. People will get hurt, physically and emotionally - not always, but often enough to make me wonder why I'm so clearly in the minority when it comes to this issue.

My father is a winemaker. I was raised in a home where, when my father was working, it was not unusual to find a dozen cases of wine on the dining room table and 30 bottles in the kitchen. My parents brought me up by example; they respect alcohol, so I do, too. It pains me to see people abuse it, and it pains me even more that excessive drinking as entertainment is so rarely acknowledged as a serious problem. The standards by which we measure morality should not conform to popular opinion.

Kat McGuire is a sophomore English/sociology major.