To the Editor:
Alex Tonelli's embarrassingly poorly written editorial (July 29, The Dartmouth) appears to be some sort of attempt at humor regarding alcohol and budget allocation at Dartmouth. I completely agree that the social norms campaign is not only ineffective and inane but also dangerous in its promotion of peer pressure, albeit "positive" peer pressure. Other points in Tonelli's article, however, merit reproach. I won't even touch the author's apparent ignorance regarding Title IX and affirmative action. His characterization of affinity housing ("There's some sort of non-functional house on campus that no one's ever heard of for about every type of small interest you've heard of"), also reflects a very deep ignorance of student life.
My primary concern, however, is Tonelli's apparent belief that sexual assault is an unfortunate side effect of having fun. Tonelli asks that if "you saw a girl walk out of a party with a boy after two beers and you were appalled, please save it." Why would anyone bother Tonelli about the date rape issue when he's simply writing about alcohol? Regardless of what the author may think, alcohol use and sexual assault do not have to go hand in hand. I like beer, not rape. Sexual assault is not a minor and unavoidable consequence of drinking; rather, it is a devastating problem of epidemic proportions that occurs in many contexts, some of them involving alcohol. The author's implication that in order to champion alcohol one must accept its necessary consequences, i.e. sexual assault, is an affront to boozehounds everywhere.
