As the daughter of a Domer, I saw the envy in my father's eyes when he dropped me off at school for the first time. "I'd give anything to go back," he even admitted. While I've heard a fair share of his college stories, his longing is not to relive his craziest nights but rather to regain the freedom he had as a college student.
We've all heard that college is the best four years of our lives. In my experience in the past two years, I've learned that this is because in college we have more free time than we'll ever have again and can choose to do whatever we want with it. Never again will I be able to take two-hour naps at whim. Although I shudder at the preceding thought, my real nightmare is others telling me what to do with my free time here, and unfortunately it's becoming a reality. In my opinion, if someone wants to spend his or her free time drinking alcohol, it's their choice. While I hope that they are safe about it, they shouldn't have to answer anyone's inquiry as to why. If someone doesn't want to spend their free time that way, then they don't have to. All I ask is that they don't condemn others who choose differently.
In regards to our reputation, I think it's safe from tarnish. One is the number of alumni that have expressed their disappointment about alcohol consumption at Notre Dame. I'd say a couple hundred is the number of alumni that have offered me alcohol before football games. And I'm willing to bet over a thousand is the number of alumni that'd be disappointed if Notre Dame took away my choice to say, "Yes."
Elizabeth Rogalski
sophomore
Lewis Hall
March 29
