Universities all across the nation are in the business of making hand-holding policies. No, I am not saying that all of a sudden you cannot connect palms with that special someone. Instead, the connection of those palms will be overseen and guided by university policies and programs to make life simpler, easier and more managed. At UW-Eau Claire, we have programs such as First Year Experience, Phase I, II orientation and CASE programs to make sure that our newer students cannot possibly fail. But here is the real problem: it robs our students of actually dealing with failure in an adult world. Further, we don’t take time to accurately assess our programs to see if they are achieving our goals. I love this university, but it is time, as a senior, to simply say what must be said: Stop holding our hands!

First, I just want to focus on FYE programs. This idea is well intended. Our first-year students, mostly freshmen, will be in smaller classes with an involved professor and an effective mentor to give them guidance as they go through the first or second semester of college. This is a perfect opportunity for frank discussions about the challenges of choosing classes, value of faculty-student relationships and the struggles of drugs and alcohol on campus. However, most FYE courses do not touch on that last one. I took an FYE course my freshman year and had a great professor and mentor, both of whom wanted to help and were very vocal about being available. And while they addressed the first two issues, they never touched, truly, on the alcohol and drug issues.

I am not encouraging a setting where students are lectured. Rather, I think it is high time, no pun intended, where we actually openly talk about the alcohol issues on campus. Why can’t FYE mentors/professors honestly explain to their students the issue of alcohol abuse on campus and in the community? It is immensely important, in my estimation, that we utilize situations where trust already exists to discuss these issues on campus.

Yet to make sure this occurs, let’s make sure that students actually do evaluations on mentors, professors and the class to see if the objectives we have set are being accomplished. FYE is a good idea, but its current system only seeks to hold the hands of our youngest students and tell them how rosy life is, when it should be used to lay out the real struggles that exist and address them.

Second, our orientation process is flawed. With all of the different phases, we hope to coddle students and make them see college as this big, fun experience, yet we overlook the reality that we don’t address their problems. Every phase has its purpose, but is that purpose met? I think the biggest issue in all of this hand holding is that it puts resident assistants in a tough situation.

The RA’s in each wing need to build that trust from day one with their residents, and that comes from respect. If the RA is forcing the students to go to hear a speaker and go through Party House, then he or she is simply seen as the enforcer of rules and not someone to go to and trust.

Again, an example of how our hand holding doesn’t address the number one concern on campus, alcohol, is through Party House. Why not actually address the fact that a single drink will not cause you to make terrible decisions, but copious amounts will? It’s time we actually inform our students, instead of holding their hands and attempting to scare them with images or data that is ineffective.

But finally, and I think this is most timely, the Center for Alcohol Studies and Education needs to do more to address alcohol on campus. CASE has undertaken actions of putting up posters on campus and in bars and handing out cards to let people know how to calculate their Blood Alcohol Content or BAC, but it’s not enough.

And while they may do presentations for some classes or organizations, what is truly being done? With Eau Claire having one of the highest percentages of binge drinking in the nation, something drastic needs to be done. More posters, pamphlets and cards will not solve the problem.

Instead, I think it is time that CASE actually works with bar owners and gets rid of drink specials that are geared towards a certain gender. Also, why not talk with bar owners and city officials to stop establishments from opening early in the morning?

Regardless of any action taken, why not start holding the hands of our students in a way that is a handshake of agreement, instead of a soft touch to comfort?

Clearly, Eau Claire is one of the best institutions in the nation. We have gone above and beyond the call of duty when it comes to service learning, internships and overall quality of education. Something that is holding us back is our goal of coddling and supporting students to keep them away from the big bad ‘F’ word … failure.

Allow our students to fail because it’s going to help them learn. But also be proactive and think outside of the box on issues of real concern to all people involved with the university. The people at this university have the best interests of the students in mind; it’s just we need to take real action, not simply a small step in the right direction. Our students may need to have their hands held, but even more so, they need a university willing to take risks to serve their better interests, in and outside of the classroom.

Johnson is a senior print journalism major, an off-campus student senator and guest columnist for The Spectator.