In the wake of rising Covid-19 cases, Baltimore City has once again closed indoor dining and bars. I feel terrible about how this act might affect those in the service industry, but ultimately it seems like it was inevitable considering the failure of the federal government to act and the impulse among individual states to reopen well before caseloads had declined to the extent they have in other places in the world. While they may be open again by the time the semester starts, I’m also thankful because it means that students won’t be congregating in bars around the city.
Indeed, since I work at one of the universities that is bringing students back to campus for hybrid teaching, I’m particularly worried about how doing so will affect the wider community and vice versa. We can’t lock students in their individual dorms or mandate they stay on campus. They will move about. And one place they’ll go are the bars, provided they’re open.
Perhaps because no one seems to want to think about these granular policies, but I’m surprised there hasn’t been a bit more discussion of changing alcohol policies in higher ed. When I was in university, we had an informal policy that basically said that as long as your door is open (so anyone in distress can be seen) and so long as you weren’t being disruptive, you wouldn’t get in trouble for underage drinking in the dorms. We also had a student-led medical service and an amnesty policy that ensured that students wouldn’t get in trouble if they sought medical care for themselves or others due to alcohol. This seems to remain the policy. (Of course it differs somewhat from what is somewhat coyly called the “formal drug and alcohol policy.”)
My current institution’s policy is much stricter and does not include amnesty (the full community standards booklet includes the complete set of rules). In the best of times, this is a wrongheaded policy. In the current situation, it is a danger to public health. We need students to stay on campus. We need them to avoid huge parties. We need them to be safe. Encourage students to get help when they drink too much. Let them drink in the dorms and, while the weather is good, outside. And make this a permanent change while we wait to catch up to the rest of the world in alcohol policy as in so much else.