Core Value #10: Take Social Responsibility

In a few glasses of liquor, in a few drunk and heedless decisions, in one night of complete, unadulterated, stumbling, dizzy, vertiginous recklessness, you can lose it all. College kids constantly jeopardize their experiences, their opportunities, their entire lives, no less, because of the mentorship guiding at the bottom of a bottle. Athletes lose the full scholarships they’ve been given by spending significantly less than that on an 8-pack downtown. Students with parents who have taken on the surplus debt of their seed are told they now have to take on the extra $250 fine because their child was caught breaking the Code of Conduct. We get through high school hearing about how fun college is, how much there is to do, how much easier it is to be independent. “Go wild!” Adults advised. “This is the prime of your life!” “Party!” But, I wonder, do the pros of an alcohol-driven lifestyle justify the potential costs?

In our last AAAS 3 class we discussed the Code of Conduct and the potential punishments a person might undergo if caught breaking this code. The lecture made me think a lot about the immense social responsibility thrust upon us, the hefty social responsibility expected of us, immediately upon entering college. I never really partied in high school, particularly because I never had any time — aside from the fact that I’d never cared to. I’ve always been overly ambitious in that, I always feel like there’s something else I could be doing or learning or listening to, and when I’m not doing those things, I’m studying or writing or playing and training for sports or performing in my school’s theater program. Even in high school, I watched plenty of friends attempt a similar load as me, if not more so, but with the amelioration of drugs and alcohol on the weekends. I also watched them fall apart my senior year when they realized that they’d allowed these distractions to become apart of their identity. Alcohol and prescription drugs warped their vision of not only the world, but themselves.My sophomore year, I watched half our senior class nearly lose their entrance into college, let alone financial aid, because they’d decided to completely let loose on prom night.

This is why what really struck me about the Code of Conduct was the way in which it was conducted. The one question I got wrong on the “Code of Conduct Quiz” was “Is the Code of Conduct the same as the law?” and I realize now that my answer “True” fell product of a misconception. The Code of Conduct is a check meant to help students – it’s not the harsh, severe, and absolute law that the negative connotation of its punishments imply. A fine for drinking underage is far kinder than the worst legal punishment for drinking underage. A second chance after disorderly conduct is more than a couple nights in ‘juvi’ could offer. We come to school to get an education. We come here to learn about the professions we aspire and the people we aspire to. It’s important to be safe. It’s vital to be safe. Everyone here wants us to be safe. So actually being safe, that is our newfound social responsibility.