Readers React: Teach college kids how to drink

Law professor Peter Schuck says that most sexual assaults at colleges and universities are “related to alcohol and drug abuse among new drinkers, both male and female.” (“On sexual assault policy, trust colleges, not Uncle Sam,” Opinion, May 14)

Where but in the United States are young people under the age of 21 prevented by law from learning to drink sensibly in civilized surroundings in the presence of responsible adults? Changing the legal drinking age to 18 might reduce the number of “new drinkers” in school, but this is not something that the colleges and universities can accomplish.

Perhaps there is more the federal government can do than Schuck thinks.

Ronald Macaulay

Claremont

Rape is nonconsensual sex. It is a very serious violent felony, not misdemeanor groping. University administrators may be equipped by dint of intellect and judgmental acumen to parse out the details, but this a crime that the victim must be told to report to law enforcement.

This is the same grotesquely distorted lens that the Roman Catholic Church used to categorize child molesters and rapists as morally misdirected, not violent felons. They were and are criminals, as are all rapists, and need to be dealt with by the law, not educators.

Gregory Fey

Westlake Village