Picture this. It's a football Saturday and the tailgaters are out in droves. Grills are fired up, stereos are blaring and the alcohol is flowing like water. Someone has a bit too much to drink and makes a fool of himself. The police catch him and they throw him in jail.
After a phone call or two, he and his buddies post bail. A fine is slapped down, and he says he'll never do it again. That's just before he heads back out to Munn field to party it up some more.
This is one potential scenario of the bigger problem that is plaguing MSU's campus: People are drinking too much.
According to a report in The Chronicle of Higher Education, MSU had 898 alcohol-related arrests in 2001.
That number is up from 852 in 2000. Between the 4,711 two- and four-year colleges and universities surveyed, alcohol law violations were up 4.7 percent.
This is just one portion of an unsettling trend on campuses across the country. MSU also is first in weapons arrests, with 32 in 2001. Nationally, that number was up 10.5 percent from 2001.
In the same period, drug-law violations were up 5.5 percent. Penn State led in that area with 173 drug-related arrests in 2001.
One good thing that could come out of this report is a message, especially to those who would engage in underage drinking - there's no tolerance for that kind of behavior around here.
But let's be honest - the drinking is the problem, not the fact that police are catching the drinkers doing something wrong, be it disorderly conduct or underage drinking.
No one can really blame police for simply doing their jobs - after all, being arrested for having consumed too much alcohol is much better than dying after consuming too much alcohol.
And let's be honest again - this is a big problem.
MSU has been No. 1 in these type of arrests seven times in the last eight years.
The Chronicle's report goes on to interview various experts who say it's not an increase in student use that's the contributing factor, but tougher law enforcement.
University spokesman Terry Denbow agrees. "It's an indicator that enforcement is effective," he said. But if the enforcement were really effective, the problem would be declining.
Perhaps stricter penalties would be in order to deter people from consuming too much alcohol, such as heavier fines or even community service.
If you've ever walked around early on a Sunday morning during a home football weekend, you know how messy this campus can be. Why not alleviate the workload for the grounds crew and teach the scofflaws a harsher lesson?
It should be noted, though, that students aren't the only ones being arrested for alcohol violations.
In fact, MSU police Chief Jim Dunlap said nearly half of all the citations for alcohol were given to people not affiliated with MSU.
Be that as it may, alcohol is a problem on this campus, and something more needs to be done about it.
Bigger and better penalties need to let people know excessive drinking is not something local law enforcement is going to tolerate.
