Monday letters: Society encourages students to drink

Is anyone surprised that 13 USC fraternities were ordered to cease recruitment activities due to alcohol violations? These young people have grown up in an environment of unfettered access, in theory for those of legal age, to consume alcoholic beverages.

The message to young people is that drinking, fund-raising, hell-raising, attending civic gatherings and generally “having a good time” are intertwined in the very fabric of our society and culture. Alcohol has become the perquisite for such activities in pursuit of successful events.

We have Bar Hop Golf, Wine on the River, Brew at the Zoo, Food Truck and Beer Festival, the infamous St. Patrick’s Day Festival and an ever-increasing number of new events with the focus on alcohol consumption. The whole craft beer movement has provided an unlimited number of new drinking opportunities. In order to add credibility to the events, the sponsors associate them with fund-raising for some worthwhile cause.

It makes sense that so many young people are just waiting for the opportunity to go to college in order to follow in the footsteps of their “adult” role models who never progressed developmentally beyond the college student mentality about alcohol consumption. We owe most of the credit for this disturbing situation to the local government and university officials.