Pickled American Individuality?

Pickled Individuality?

Hardly surprising that the University of Iowa landing in a top spot on a party school list is causing consternation in has official circles. U. of I. isn’t our only drinking problem—the new head of the U. of Northern Iowa discontinued Veesha as a near occasion of bingeing, rowdiness, property destruction, even death. Universities nationwide on the hot seat because of the problem of rape that has grown out of drinking. Last week, a U. of I. official was listing the “tools” he had to deal with the problem: 1) organizing alternative activities, 2) manipulating the hours/policies of bars around campuses, 3) alcohol education.

            Whenever I see these silly machinations, I can’t help thinking of my Paris friends’ little boy, age 11 then. We were walking down the street in Montparnasse one time and I said to him, “Pierre, Let’s get a glass of wine.” He ordered hot chocolate, and when I asked him, he confided he had drunk a bottle of champagne at his sister’s wedding. “But I didn’t get drunk,” he emphasized forcefully. Now, his boy had already internalized the French alcohol ethic: drink as much as you can or want, but do not lose your dignity.

            Someone with a more critical eye than mine is going to have to explain how in this the ostensible land of the individual we have surrendered individual volition to officials rather than teaching young people to manage themselves and protect their own dignity.