21-only creates fissure
Melanie Kucera - The Daily Iowan
Issue date: 9/14/07 Section: Metro
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The forum, which took place at the IMU, was hosted by the Roosevelt Institution, a national nonprofit student-run organization.
In favor of 21-only: UI senior Phonsavanh Lovan and UI clinical Professor of family medicine Rick Dobyns argued the ordinance is for the greater good, citing the high rate of local binge drinking.
Against: UI junior Atul Nakhasi and Bo-James owner Leah Cohen said the ban would just push the problem elsewhere, specifically to harder-to-patrol house parties.
"Parents do not know what goes on at these house parties," Cohen said, adding that ultimately, we are "throwing these kids to the wolves."
Nakhasi used Iowa City police understaffing as an argument against the ban.
"If we can't take care of the sexual assaults on campus, how are we going to take care of the students going into residential, less-supervised areas," he asked.
On the other end of the spectrum, Dobyns argued for more nonalcoholic venues. He pointed out the 46-0 ratio between bars who serve alcohol and those who do not.
Dobyns said West Lafayette, Ind., the home of Purdue University, and Madison, Wis., the site of the University of Wisconsin, among others, have 21-ordinances, and they saw a decrease in binge drinking among students.
"The community needs to take the initiative to change the image and atmosphere of being a party school," Lovan said. "What's going to push [the UI] to have these nonalcoholic venues? We're going to keep waiting and waiting."
On Nov. 6, Iowa City voters will decide whether to allow people under 21 in the bars.
Both sides agreed that eliminating 18- and 19-year-olds from the bars could potentially create more danger for students venturing into the house-party world.
But each side had a different spin.
"Do I give my patients medicine that can produce negative effects? Yes," Dobyns said. "But they take the medicine for the longer and greater good."
Cohen took the opposite approach, saying the 21-ordinance would result in the "destruction of neighborhoods as well as more drug activity and assaults."
E-mail DI reporter Melanie Kucera at:
melanie-kucera@uiowa.edu
Viewing Comments 1 - 10 of 20
HD
posted 9/14/07 @ 7:16 AM CST
If you are 18, you are supposed to be mature enough to put your life on the line for your country, make the life shattering decision of marriage, enter legal contracts etc. (Continued…)
stalin
posted 9/14/07 @ 7:50 AM CST
Dobyns thinks a 21 ordinance made everything hunky-dory at UW and Purdue? First, let's not forget the bogus claims about research these guys are still making to support the 21 ordinance. (Continued…)
Ben There
posted 9/14/07 @ 9:03 AM CST
I don't like that fact that bar owners are profiting from the illegal sales of alcohol to those under 21. There is enough of a mark up on alcohol that they do not need illegal sales to be profitable. (Continued…)
stalin
posted 9/14/07 @ 9:31 AM CST
Ben There wrote:
"The argument that "this will cause an explosion of unregulated house parties" is crazy. Since when did bars and the Iowa City Police Department become babysitters for adults?"
Umm, police have to deal with public safety, whenever it becomes an issue. (Continued…)
T. Navickas
posted 9/14/07 @ 10:39 AM CST
Besides the Iowans that dont have the option to and instead resort to "road trippin" on gravel roads, dont most kids know how to handle themselves at a house a party considering this is their only option in high school? Lets face it if someone wants to drink, they will find a way to drink, whether its at a bar or a house. (Continued…)
Chuck
posted 9/14/07 @ 11:23 AM CST
What is going on in that disfunctional city? I graduated from UI 3+ years ago, and they had been having this exact same debate for as long as I can remember. (Continued…)
Buddy
posted 9/14/07 @ 11:26 AM CST
The issue is that students drink too much and it affects their health, their grades, their relationships, and collectively, the Iowa City/Coralville community. (Continued…)
Steve R.
posted 9/14/07 @ 12:55 PM CST
I think that not only should a 21 only ordinance be enacted; but nationally, all rights of being an adult shouldn't be conferred on a person until they are both 21 both have completed two years of actual government service (not employment. (Continued…)
stalin
posted 9/14/07 @ 1:32 PM CST
Buddy wrote:
"If you know anything about public health, you understand the influence that the environment plays on our individual health."
If you know anything about this particular public health initiative, you know that it is an experimental approach, involving a barrage of restrictions and punitive consequences. (Continued…)
unknown
posted 9/15/07 @ 12:21 AM CST
Why not give the ordinance a try? We've never seen the effects of what it could cause; we keep speculating that it will cause all this damage, and within a year if binge drinking increases to house parties, overturn it. (Continued…)
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