As a senior at Elon I have witnessed a number of drastic changes in my three-plus years on campus. The never-ending cycle of destruction and construction has created many great new buildings and attracted a new caliber of students and faculty members. We even have a “state of the art” dining facility which promises to be the next Ruth’s Chris of college dining.

Unfortunately, on its way to becoming the brick-laden, academic utopia Elon strives to be, the school has reached a serious hurdle – drinking. Elon’s policy on alcohol consumption has gone from one of education and responsibility to an all out war. This is not an exaggeration of the school’s attempt to curtail the pervasive problem of binge drinking as students continue to receive e-mails threatening double-fines, public humiliation and alcohol classes – not to mention phrases such as engagement and zero-tolerance.

I’m not writing to argue that drinking isn’t a nationwide problem or that it’s a developmental right of passage for students and should be left alone. Alcohol abuse is a problem on this and every other college campus, but is this current wave of muscle-flexing the best way to deal with the problem?

Saturday night, in what could have been mistaken for a scene from Vincent Chase’s most recent movie “Medellin,” I witnessed a true testament to the battle Elon wages. While standing on the lawn in one of Elon’s off-campus communities and legally drinking a beer (I’m 21), I was suddenly ambushed by eight to 10 policemen and A.L.E. agents. Like Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six unit, these individuals came pouring out of the woods in search of the modern day insurgent – anyone consuming alcohol.

In accordance with Elon’s “Party Smart Checklist,” a checklist devised by Elon University and the town of Elon police, our party had a sober host, plastic cups, no music and about 25 guests. We even notified our neighbors of our plan.

After a long week of class, winding down on Friday and Saturday night is not an unreasonable idea. The majority of people attending our party were 21, and those who weren’t were consuming alcohol responsibly. These sorts of ambushes do nothing but push parties and drinking further off campus. What then? Will our tuition include fully installed car-breathalyzers? At this rate I wouldn’t be surprised.

Education, not force, is the way to go. Witnessing policemen and A.L.E. agents coercing underage kids into selling themselves and others out is disgusting, much less cowardly and trite. College students drink, face it. Don’t fight it.

Dr. Herbert Kleber, a professor of psychiatry at Columbia University and former deputy drug czar, said “education is the cure to the extent that ignorance is the disease.” Using force is an ignorant solution to a complicated problem. What message do you send to someone when you tell them they can’t do something they legally have the right to do? You drive them into a corner and witness these individuals continue to behave in a similar manner.

Student: John Washington, ‘08 - 09/12/07