I just noticed this story in the Richmond Palladium-Item. Primarily, I noticed it because it talked about students drinking at Miami University just over the border in Ohio. As luck would have it, I was known to occasionally have a drink or two at Miami University. O.k., o.k., so the bartender knew my name . . . even 5 years after I’d graduated and left town.
All levity aside though, the article is about 3 students who died in a fire, at least in significant part because they’d been drinking and were likely passed out when their off campus house caught fire. Some “smoking materials” caught the downstairs couch on fire and the students apparently never woke up. This one caught my attention because the fire was about a block away from where I used to live.
During the day, uptown Oxford is relatively calm, with students walking to class or taking some time to window shop. Come back at night, though, and it’s not uncommon to see long lines forming in front of uptown bars with students, locals and out-of-towners looking to have a good time.
The administration, police officials and Miami students agreed drinking — both legally and underage — is one piece of the entire puzzle that makes up Miami’s lifestyle.
“I think it’s obvious that there is a drinking culture on this campus as well as many residential campuses,” Wissing said. “I think (drinking) is associated with the collegiate lifestyle nationwide.”
When I was there, there were 15 bars in 3 blocks. I’d say Miami very much has a drinking culture. My favorite bar had beer specials as follows: Monday – 50 cent 16 oz beers; Tues – $1.25 longnecks; Wed. – 50 cent 16 oz beers; Thurs – $1 Gennessee pounders (16 oz cream ales); Fri – $2 32 oz beers; Sat. – $3 pitchers (64 oz); Sun. – no special. With that kind of bar concentration and those kind of beer specials, you’re going to have some binge drinking. Don’t get me wrong, I loved it while I was there. But, if you’re serious about taking down the drinking culture, reduce the number of alcohol permits and figure out a way to get the bars to jack up their beer prices. On the other hand, instead of another round of hand wringing about binge drinking, student housing was ridiculously run down — you might get serious about making sure those tinder boxes are up to code.
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