"Brew 4 JMU"?

Last Thursday, I stopped by the Commons to check out an event sponsored by a few of my fellow classmates. These guys chose to advocate an open discussion about bringing alcohol to JMU's campus. While JMU has an ABC license and is allowed to serve adult beverages at catered events, there is no place where students can hang out and enjoy a beer with friends. Apparently, George Mason and several other universities across the country have such on-campus pubs, which prompted my classmates to explore bringing a similar facility to campus. A handout that they provided outlined several reasons why we should consider bringing a bar to campus. These included: providing "revenue for the school during difficult economic times," providing a "much safer and supervised environment for students 21 & older to drink in," possibility of promoting "positive drinking habits," and "strengthening connections between JMU and the local community" by selling beers from local microbreweries. This is certainly a controversial topic, but the guys were out on the Commons, handing out pizza, stickers, and flyers in hopes of engaging others in conversation about the idea. I was there early on, and at the time, while lots of flyers were handed out, few people actually stopped to discuss the matter, but this may have changed as the evening progressed. Personally, I have mixed feelings about the idea of a bar on campus. While it is widely known that college students drink, I am unsure as to whether the line should be crossed between the behaviors we engage in off-campus and those that are promoted/allowed on-campus. "Brew 4 JMU" certainly has the potential to spark arguments from both sides, and the result should prove to be quite interesting.