The costs of alcohol and its abuse are, no doubt, tremendous. Innumerable studies, and Tufts' alcohol survey, paint a pretty bleak picture.
It's certainly no surprise that students can rattle off a bunch of awful drunken experiences. A bad go-around with a Bacardi Limon. Hookups with a heinous acquaintance (or complete stranger).
Homework left undone, classes missed. The anxiety of being pressured into taking the next shot.
But, like any balance sheet, the alcohol sword cuts both ways, and a tally of pitfalls should at least examine alcohol's assets - if nothing else, to offer some insight into why students drink in the first place.
We just love being drunk! For every lackluster party or drunken mishap, you can bet on five, 10, 15 instances that were at the least, not problematic; at the best, incredible memories you'll never forget.
Health services: don't just ask students whether alcohol made them go too far sexually.
Ask how many people they met, through chance drunken encounters, that grew into real and sustained friendships.
Ask about the laughs from the pictures of the syrup and peanut butter night, or the inflatable sheep night, or the hula limbo night.
Ask not only what students regret, how many inside jokes were made, how many times they just blew off steam in the company of people. Ask them how many irreplaceable, unique memories were created.
Community is built on many levels: people bond not only over intellectual discussion, incredible work experience, or rallying to win a sports event.
Tufts can provide all of these building blocks of community, but where groups really where people really bond, where emotional connections really germinate, is belting out Britney when dancing on the table or smiling for pictures while straddling the cannon (Ha).
In short, communities really gel with the mundane, stupid, funny stuff that happens. It's less photogenic, it's less tangible, less PR-friendly, but it's real.
And it's incredibly important. And we do more of it when we're drinking. Could this happen without alcohol? In a perfect world, maybe. In reality, it's easier with some lubrication.
One does walk, day in and day out, the fine line between alcohol's manic and depressive side, and truly dangerous and problematic behavior does take place at Tufts.
Alcoholism is a dangerous and devastating disease with terrible consequences, and college culture can, and does, lay the foundation for real problems later on in some cases.
But that's not most of Tufts. Most are moderate drinkers and do a good job of it, and they get too little credit for this.
While everybody has a wild night or dangerous go-around now and again, keep an eye on the bigger picture.
Jumbos are - despite their drinking - constantly raising their spectacular academic, professional, and extracurricular profile, while still finding time to get bleepfaced.
Now that's time management.
Whether these good factors balance, or outweigh, the negative ones, is an entirely different question.
Maybe they shouldn't. The damage may be high a price to pay. But nobody's talking about alcohol's asset column, and how a couple drinks can get community roots growing.
