The week comes to an end and people across campus scatter across Welch Avenue and surrounding streets. People’s, Mickey’s, Paddy’s and Chasers fill up with “legal” adults who can’t wait to get a beverage in hand and let go all the stress that has built up during the week.

Last week, Craig Buske, GSB ex-officio City Council representative, decided not to breach the subject of allowing 19 and 20-year-olds into the Ames bars. All of this came under consideration because of the massive amount of off-campus drinking. Buske covered his bases and looked at all sides of this issue before coming up with the final decision to not go ahead with another experiment of letting minors into bars.

This is the best decision for Iowa State.

Bars are a privilege; they are a “rite of passage” to becoming an adult. College students count down the days until they can legally enter an establishment and proudly buy their first beverage of choice. It is an amazing experience and something that should be cherished.

Certain bars in Iowa City allow minors to enter but not to drink. The 21-and-up crowd is given wristbands and minors are given stamps. This is the only separation between the ages and the legal status. That small stamp means very little though.

Rarely do minors go to those bars just to stand around with their older peers – they drink just as much as everybody else. In those places all you have to know is one drinker and they can get you drinks for the entire night. The underage students will stumble home just like the adults and the problem of underage drinking remains the same.

Allowing minors into bars is not the solution to underage drinking. Frankly, there isn’t a way to stop it. Anybody who wants to drink will find a way. Those very same people who are left behind while their friends go to the bar can just as easily go back to their rooms with other minors and drink a bottle of whatever and have a great time.

Before turning 21, many ISU students make the trip to Iowa City for the sole purpose of going to the bars and drinking past the edge of stupidity. Unfortunately, I was one of those and barely remember the nights of stumbling back to my safe haven. I was stupid for doing that.

Ames and Iowa State are better than that. There are enough problems with fake IDs and off-campus parties – we don’t need to add the pressure of trying to keep drinks out of underage hands. People are always trying to push the envelope – first they are content with just going to the bars, and then fake IDs come up because they don’t want to wait for someone else to get the next drink and then more problems arise.

The bars in Ames are already overcrowded. This would just lead to an increase in waiting in line and frustration on cold nights when all people want is a drink and shelter. This would force more bars to open up and more drinking to occur.

Last year there was talk about changing the area around campus because of all the bars in such close proximity to the actual campus. It makes it look like we are nothing more than a bunch of engineers and veterinarians with drinking problems. Although the location is mostly for convenience, for most students it does give off a certain negative image of the Cyclones.

The fact that new students can enter a bar isn’t exactly a comforting fact for parents who like to think that their babies will remain innocent for at least their first year at Iowa State.

Bars are a great place – fun, loud and expensive. Minors will have their time and be able to be with their peers and have the experiences of a legal adult, eventually. There’s no use rushing the inevitable.

On Friday night, when your friends go out for beers at Mickey’s, just mark another day off the calendar and wait for their call begging for a ride home so you can save the night again.

Emily Garringer is a junior in marketing from Williamsburg.