Role Models for Alcohol Use

Your article on the proposed (now abandoned) plan for a campus pub (On the Campus, Sept. 17) noted that one of the goals was to “model the responsible use of alcohol.” But how did Princeton plan to do that, when modeling the responsible use of alcohol involves having people in their late teenage years learn to integrate alcohol in their lives in a moderate, responsible way; having a glass of wine with dinner; or sharing a beer or two — but not six — with friends or a professor? 

Modeling responsible behavior needs to be done when a person still is forming his or her habits; it can’t be accomplished after a 21-year-old adult already has formed bad habits because he or she “learned to drink” in isolation from all the social forces — such as respected role models — who could have set a good example.