n his essay, On Liberty, John Stuart Mill asks, ôHow much of human life should be assigned to individuality, and how much to society?ö Mill answers this question by formulating two basic maxims. First, an individual is essentially free to do as he chooses, so long as his actions do not interfere with the rights of another; and, second, if the personÆs actions are prejudicial to the interests of another, the individual will be held accountable to society and subject to social or legal punishment. An application of MillÆs maxims to the college social dilemma suggests that a school does not have the authority to regulate the social and private lives of its students because individuals are free to live their lives as they see fit. If the conduct does not harm others, society has no business interfering with an individualÆs activities. Society cannot regulate activities simply because it dislikes the individualÆs conduct or otherwise finds it to be distasteful.
Mill essentially postulates that, if an individual does not violate a specific duty to another, society must simply reserve its moral judgment of the individualÆs actions or associations. According to Mill, since society (parents, churches, schools) has absolute control over an individualÆs life until he or she reaches the age of majority, if it has not managed to raise its children as rational people, than society alone is to blame for the consequences. In the college context, many students have been under the absolute control of adult figures; thus, by the time they are 18, they should be fit to make their own choices concerning their social and private existence. In fact, attempting to control the behavior of these newly formed adults almost inevitably leads to rebellious conduct, which is the antithesis of the objective of regulating studentsÆ social lives.
A recent article in The Wall Street Journal concurs with MillÆs reasoning in the context o...