By Mason Dunn
Fall 2023
I am almost positive that everyone knows that Oklahoma State is a dry campus. From the outside, it seems like a good idea because realistically, who would want a bunch of drunk teenagers running around a college campus? Although some people might find it a good idea to leave campus dry, it is not all that it seems. After diving into it deeper, I firmly believe going dry is not the right choice.
Contrary to popular belief, not all teenagers follow the rules; where’s the fun in that? You can put however many rules into place that you want but that doesn’t guarantee people will follow them, especially when it comes to drinking and having fun. As a student at Oklahoma State who witnessed this behavior firsthand, drinking on campus can not and will not be stopped. Even being housed in dorm halls, there are loopholes around their rules. In the dorms on campus, they do regular room checks, but their policy states that they can not search through personal belongings, such as backpacks. Nothing is stopping residents from hiding all their alcohol in a backpack shoved to the back of a closet. Here’s the kicker; gamedays. Oklahoma State claims to be a dry campus except on game days; how does that make sense?
Oklahoma State Gamedays is the one time that the campus tolerates alcohol. On a regular day, you can walk throughout campus and not see a single beer can, whether it’s on the ground or in someone’s hand. The campus police patrol the campus regularly looking out for this exact thing, especially at night. If you were to see someone on a regular Tuesday night, walking down Monroe with a beer, I would be willing to bet my entire life savings that they will be stopped by the police. However, when it comes to gamedays, the roles are completely reversed. No matter where you walk, you see people either carrying their beer down the street or drinking at tailgates. This type of activity completely throws all the regulations that Oklahoma State has put on drinking out the window. In the presentation “Alcohol Culture at Oklahoma State”, Lily Chavez states that she brought this exact “gameday” scenario up, OSU claimed it brought them more money, gave the college experience, and brought back alumni (“Alcohol Culture at Oklahoma State”, 0:00-0:06). Although it would be nice for OSU to not be a dry campus, I do not care if it is or not. My main concern of the matter is what the people do to drink on a non-gameday.
The reason why I believe Oklahoma State should not be a dry campus is you can try to control drinking on campus with rules, but you can’t control people being idiots. Just because you try to stop people from drinking on campus, what is stopping them from driving off campus, drinking, and then driving back? This could easily be prevented if Oklahoma State did away with the dry campus, or even had designated areas to drink and not to drink. Being on a wet campus decreases the chances of being charged with a DUI for minors. Keeping the dry campus keeps minors at risk of getting themselves in serious trouble because they decided to get off campus to drink. If you want to look at the money side of things, the article (The Pros and Cons of a Wet Campus: The Pros), states that making campus a wet campus could be beneficial to getting money to the university. For example, if Oklahoma State was a wet campus, they could open up a bar on campus that is owned by the university to help bring in a little extra revenue. There is a whole other side to the story when it comes to fraternities and sororities.
In today’s society, fraternities and sororities are all about partying and having fun with one another. Being in a fraternity on a dry campus, we are affected by people wanting to rush to Oklahoma State. I did not rush to drink and party, but what about those who do? People might look at Oklahoma State and be dead set on rushing but the dry campus side of the university might kill it for them. God forbid they don’t want to go to a dry campus and decide they want to go to that ugly red school an hour South just because they can drink on campus. You may not think people make decisions based on these types of things, but you would be very surprised. Despite what I believe on the matter, some people have the exact opposite views.
In the same article, (“The Pros and Cons of a Wet Campus: The Cons”) talks about the cons of having a wet campus. People believe having a dry campus sends a positive message to college students and helps stop the act of binge drinking. Not only does it reduce binge drinking, but it also keeps the campus looking clean, being that there aren’t beer cans littering the campus. Having a wet campus might send out the wrong message to students making it seem like it is encouraged to get drunk all the time while being in a school setting. Some suggest keeping the campus dry forces students to be active in clubs/sports. Dry campuses might help stop kids from drinking their college years away and get more involved and active with the university. Another big issue with having a wet campus is when it comes to legal matters. Dry campuses are not liable for someone drinking on campus and getting severely hurt or worse. However, when it comes to kids getting in danger at a wet campus, the university is liable for the individual’s actions. There are valid points to both sides of the story, whether you are pro-alcohol or you are anti-alcohol.
Although I believe Oklahoma State should not be a dry campus, there is a lot more to the university other than drinking. I don’t think that the rules will change anytime soon, but I think it could be beneficial to OSU to get rid of the restrictions. With that being said, I do believe you can have fun doing things on campus that don’t involve alcohol. In my eyes, changing the campus alcohol policy will not affect everyone’s everyday life, but I do think it will reduce the risks of drinking and driving all while keeping the infamous Stillwater atmosphere.
Works Cited
Beal, Kristin. The Pros & Cons of a Wet Campus: The Cons. The Gateway, 2023. p. 1.
Hansen, Marcus. The Pros & Cons of a Wet Campus: The Pros. The Gateway, 2023. p. 1.
Chavez, Lily. “Alcohol Culture at Oklahoma State.” Archive Oklahoma State, uploaded by Archive Oklahoma State, Spring 2022
archiveoklahoma.com 