Mind you, I am not an alumnus of a college or university in the state of Mississippi.  Although I have lived here now into my twenty-third year, I went to college at Stetson University in Deland, Florida.  Never heard of it?  Well, you should have.  Ever heard of a Stetson hat?  Same family.  For many years, over a hundred, Stetson was the premiere and flagship Baptist university in Florida.  As with many other Baptist schools in states primarily in the South, the relationship between Stetson and the Florida Baptist Convention was always filled with tension.  Florida Baptists wanted Stetson to be more conservative than it wanted to be.  One of the issues was alcohol. 

Stetson and Florida Baptists severed ties a few years back.  One of the results of this action was the loss of funding from the Florida Baptist Convention for Stetson.  Another result was the appearance in polite company and at some university functions of alcoholic beverages.  I went to college there in the 60's when people my age were clamoring for the right to drink alcoholic beverages out in the open on campus.  Well, now they can.  I think Stetson lost something when that happened--and I don't consider myself a prude or a prick.

The University of Mississippi has an admitted problem with alcohol.  Space in this article does not permit a recitation of facts which everyone knows.  The abuses of alcohol by students has resulted in tragedy after tragedy on the lovely campus in Oxford.  Chancellor Khayat has begun a new policy of stricter controls against the use of alcohol on the campus.  This was necessary.  Part of the program is an education in alcohol awareness.  Each incoming freshman now has to complete this program, and they can do it on line.  Has it worked?

I was at Ole Miss on Saturday for the Alabama game.  I love the Grove and tailgating in the Grove.  There was alcohol in the Grove Saturday.  Beer and plenty of it.  Beer was what they were outlawing there for the pre game and post game festivities.  I don't know how Chancellor Khayat plans to police the new policy, but it will need to be policed.  You know, all of this smacks of the temperance movement and the decades and decades of opposition to alcohol by Southern Baptists and others.  But without the opposition, what would happen?  What was happening?  Freely flowing alcohol, wild adolescence, and especially hyped up testosterone are not a good mix.  Something tragic is waiting to happen.  I don't want to be so negative here, but I am old enough now to know what happens when you have alcohol on the campus.  Often times it isn't good.  If people would drink sensibly?  But how realistic is that?  Do I enjoy infringing on the freedom of others?  No, but neither do I enjoy seeing others' freedom end the lives or permanently cripple the lives of innocent victims.

I wish Stetson would go back to the way it used to be on campus.  I wish Chancellor Khayat good luck in cutting back the spigot on the beer and other alcoholic drinks in the Grove and elsewhere on the Ole Miss campus.  After all, students are there to go to school, not drink.  If they want to drink, they can go to a restaurant or a bar in town.  And then the  rules need to be clear that safety comes first and always.