Finding out about alcohol abroad
Joanna Mikulski
Innsbruck Stimme
To American students, including many of those at Notre Dame, alcohol represents the ultimate in "forbidden fruits." It costs relatively little. Under-aged students can easily obtain it. The consequences of its illegal consumption are avoidable. Administrators generally turn a blind eye towards its presence at football games, in the dormitories and within fraternities.
Unfortunately, the combination of easy alcoholic beverage availability and the student abuse of the "forbidden fruit" results in numerous tragedies each year. In the case of such tragedies, like a death from alcohol poisoning, the responsibility then falls on the University administration to face the grieving family and friends and their accusations of negligence or inadequate supervision or control.
Yet the backlash upon the University comes unfairly. The blame for the misuse of alcohol by undergraduates lies not within the degree of enforcement rules of the University but rather deeper within American culture.
As a result of the drinking age, American youth do not learn to view moderate alcoholic beverage consumption as a part of life, especially when the adults in their life do not set a good example. They do not appreciate alcoholic beverages as one aspect of the general culture of food and drink.
Instead, they regard it as a secondary dessert after meals. Its consumption becomes in their eyes a leisure activity — a forbidden pleasure.
A year abroad in Europe presents a unique opportunity for students to adopt a healthy attitude towards alcohol. In Austria, the university students do not consider alcohol a substance to be consumed in large quantities in a small amount of time. Rather, they spend hours in cafés and bars talking over a single beer or glass of wine.
At my host family's house, my host father speaks of drinking particular wines with various meals and dishes according to the combination of flavors desired.
Although a person must be 18 years old to order a drink at a pub or bar, no true drinking age exists in Austria. A child can purchase vodka at the supermarket. Yet, despite the open availability of alcohol, Austria as yet does not have a problem with alcoholism in the pre- schools.
Instead, the lack of restriction on alcohol allows the prevailing moderate attitude towards alcohol consumption held by most of the students that I have encountered. And indeed, many Innsbruckers will attest that after five months here, they now look at their beer more maturely and moderately.
Unfortunately, the combination of the American college student mentality towards alcoholic drinks and the bottles of hard liquor lined for purchase by all on the supermarket shelves can result in misuse by students similar to the misuse on Notre Dame's campus.
Recent incidents involving the over- consumption of alcohol by students in Innsbruck and in other study-abroad programs has brought into question the University policy concerning alcohol.
The University must find a way to govern the use of alcohol by the students in order to protect both the students and the University. The rules of DuLac can no longer apply in Europe.
If the University were to prohibit the American students to drink in accordance with the United States law, it would constrain the students' ability to assimilate into the European culture, the ultimate goal of the study-abroad programs.
Mistakes by students in the consumption of alcohol cannot be addressed merely as violations of law, since no laws are violated by mere consumption. Instead, the University must regard the mistakes made by the students as simply mistakes, unless the infraction brought consequences so great that the well-being of the other students or the surrounding community lay directly in the path of danger.
Cases of true alcoholism cannot be ignored. However, as University officials cannot personally watch the students abroad and have even less control over their actions in Europe than in the United States, the University must rely upon the foresight and the maturity of the other students, who hold the responsibility to bring any problem of alcoholism to the attention of those who can be of assistance, such as a professor or the director of the study-abroad program.
Ideally, the students will step off the plane in December or June with a new perspective on campus parties and with a new outlook on American drinking culture as a whole. The issues concerning alcohol within the American culture and on college campuses do not have an easy solution. Universities will always have to deal with problems of drinking among undergraduates until the moderate consumption of alcohol becomes a part of the general American culture.
Fortunately, for some students, who truly live within and experience the European culture, a semester or a year abroad results in their recognition of the proper role of alcohol consumption.
Joanna Mikulski is a sophomore arts and letters major and is currently studying abroad in Innsbruck, Austria.
The views expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.
All Viewpoint Stories for Friday, January 26, 2001
