OPINION: Green beans do not contain alcohol

If your friend was eating six cans of green beans a day, would you sit down and have a chat about his or her problem? Unlike the Wellness Center, which relates cans of green beans to cans to alcohol, we would applaud our friends for consuming the daily recommended serving of vegetables.

Wait, so alcohol is now full of vitamins and will regulate our health? Why didn’t anyone tell us before?

Can you find a correlation between vegetables and alcohol? Neither can we. In light of National Collegiate Alcohol Awareness Week, the Wellness Center initiated a program present on college campuses across the country — The Green Bean Campaign.

The premise of the plan is simple. Over a period of two weeks a group of students leaves a series of posters around campus that build on one another. The first is a pod labeled “green bean.” The second inquires how many six packs of green beans it takes to have fun on the weekend.

The final poster states: “You can talk to a friend about their green bean problem, but can you talk about a drinking problem?”

While we applaud the Student Wellness Center in its efforts to prevent alcohol-related problems among students, posters and cans will garner little attention among the thousands of advertisements that already line signposts and bulletin boards across campus. The chance a student will even associate the various posters with one another over a two-week span is small. Students who do happen to see every poster and connect the dots might not even be the ones who need to hear the message.

For students who struggle to manage their alcohol consumption, it isn’t likely they’re going to pull inspiration from a few glossy pieces of paper. While the campaign is right in encouraging students to talk to their friends, talking can only do so much. As writer, director and political activist Rob Reiner once said, “Everybody talks about wanting to change things and help and fix, but ultimately all you can do is fix yourself.”

Instead of beating around the bush, it’s time to start teaching students how to follow the law and drink responsibly. Cute illustrations of vegetables aren’t going to cut it, however, it is a step in the right direction.

Let’s leave the soggy, long vegetables for casseroles and enact a plan that will do something other than create “awareness.” We’ve all seen friends and family fall victim to irresponsible drinking. Just three weeks ago we watched one of our own, a 17-year-old girl, was rushed to the hospital with alcohol poisoning.

Each student will have to make a choice. All USU can do is provide resources for those considering a change. Though we don’t see the campaign as a program that will have a magnificent impact, we hope it will ignite thoughts about whether or not students should better moderate consumption.