The Counseling Center surveyed 1,737 students in the Fall Semester in their PEFWL classes. The results say 62 percent of students said they drink alcohol two times per month or less.
That means a majority of these students do not have drinking problems. However, 82 percent of students said they believe students drink at least once a week.
Muncie citizens and officials apparently believe this, too. That would explain why the Muncie Police felt it necessary to crack down on underage drinking by sending 15 squad cars to break up a party at Lambda Chi fraternity.
If it is true that 62 percent of students drink alcohol two times per month or less, the city is contributing to a negative stereotype of Ball State as a party school -- a stereotype that Ball State has been fighting for more than 20 years.
If Ball State officials want to continue to fight the university's reputation as a party school, they should be fighting the city's excessive and highly publicized crackdown on underage drinking. Yes, people who drink underage are breaking the law, and yes, efforts should be made to keep them from doing so.
However, students should not have to live in a state of fear. Muncie officials are making this happen in two ways. First of all, they have created the impression, purposefully or not, that the slightest bit of alcohol will land someone in jail.
Second, Muncie is ignoring its own problems. In the weeks since a student was murdered in the middle of a Muncie street, in a case where the man standing accused of the crime has been in and out of the city's criminal justice system but still manages to possess a gun, officials have decided the most immediate problem in this city is a bunch of rowdy students.
Underage drinking is against the law, and if someone is caught, he or she should go to jail. However, if the results of this survey are correct, Muncie officials are obviously barking up the wrong tree.
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