By Erin Miller

Editor in chief

Students living off campus should know that even if they are 21 years old, their alcohol consumption could be putting them in violation of the student conduct code.

``We don't say that you can't drink off-campus,'' Dean of Student Development Bob Crow said. ``You can, if you can do it responsibly.''

According to the Calvin student handbook, any student who is of legal drinking age and consumes enough alcohol to become impaired or intoxicated is in violation of the policy and could face warnings or even disciplinary probation, along with community service hours, special assignments or fines up to $100.

Most, if not all, of the students attending Monday night's session of the Student Senate town hall meeting expressed their surprise at the rule. Some said Calvin had not done a sufficient job in making the rule known, but added that most students living off-campus who drink enough to become inebriated would not likely change their behavior because of it.

``I don't think most people care,'' junior Senator Kim Shaver said. ``They say, `What can [the adminstration] do?'''

In addition to that rule, there are several other alcohol-related rules students should know about. For example, students living off campus who are throwing a party are not allowed to charge for the alcohol without a liquor license or serve alcohol to any minors at the party.

A bigger problem associated with being drunk, Crow said, is the image that is presented to the surrounding community and neighborhood. He said that he does receive phone calls from neighbors of Calvin students complaining of loud parties and drunk students.

The cause of that may be a distinction between being a Calvin student on campus and a Calvin student off campus.

``I think [students] off campus separate from Calvin as much as they can,'' senior Senator Kari Sieplenga said. ``The community doesn't separate them that way. Students aren't connecting themselves with Calvin.''

Crow and Vice President for Student Life Shirley Hoogstra both questioned students at the meeting about the motives of students who choose to drink until they are intoxicated. The answers varied, but several students said that the majority of off-campus students were not drinking solely to become intoxicated.

``We all understand that alcohol and education don't go together,'' Student Senate Vice President Karissa deKoning said. ``But when we go home we want to relax and have a glass of wine. Some people take it too far and get drunk.''

Related to that was the issue of underage drinking. One unnamed student said that she believed the majority of students who are underage and drink are students in their first semester of their freshman year. Students realize that they are free of their parent's restraint, testing the limits of that freedom.

Hoogstra asked if Calvin did enough to promote activities that do not involve alcohol.

While many students said plenty of entertainment options were available for students living on campus, deKoning pointed out that it may be the Calvin factor itself that drives students off campus to parties involving alcohol.

``I think part of it's just going off campus,'' she said. ``It's getting away from these buildings.''

Freshman Senator Erin McGuire agreed.

For students trying to escape campus, ``something sponsored by Calvin would have a negative [connotation],'' she said.

Regardless of the reasons students are drinking, Crow said students are missing opportunities to become integral parts of the neighborhoods in which they live, as well as hurting the general reputation of Calvin students living off campus.

``I wish the message was out there that this is a chance when you're [able to] live out `to love your neighbor as yourself,' literally,'' he said. ``It can be too easy for college students in general to move in as transients who don't care.''