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Binge U.

Students still killing themselves with alcohol, but nation's college officials have no intention of giving up the fight.

Date published: 11/16/2004

Campus drinking still an unsolved problem

A COLLEGE STUDENT'S first taste of independence may include a nip from the bottle, then another and anotheruntil he or she ends up in trouble. According to a Harvard University study, 44 percent of college students have engaged in dangerous binge drinking. Alas, college presidents aren't sure what to do about it [see Monday's Free Lance-Star story "Alcohol deaths trouble campuses"].

Eighteen-year-olds in this country can drive a car, vote, marry, and lead a charge into Fallujah, but alcohol remains oddly verboten until age 21. Away from home, students, vulnerable to peer pressure and with slight or no drinking experience, can easily drink to excess, engendering fatal consequences: alcohol poisoning, falls from dorm balconies, traffic smash-ups.

University of Mary Washington officials report that about one student per week seeks hospital care for alcohol abuse. The school reacts with education programs and disciplinary actions depending on the level of the student's alcohol use and aggravating circumstances. With only about 4,000 undergrads, UMW has the advantage of a close-knit student community. Yet many students live off-campus, making enforcement tough.

Some schools, including UMW, are trying a strategy called "social-norms marketing"--trying to convince kids that binge drinking is passe in hopes the allure will fade. Meanwhile, Harvard professor Henry Wechsler envisions a concerted effort by colleges and communities to limit alcohol access, punish wrongdoers, and change the campus culture.

Perhaps it's time to revisit the legal drinking age. Professor Ruth Engs of Indiana University, who has studied the issue for 20 years, believes that allowing 18-year-olds to partake of beer and wine in controlled settings would teach them to drink responsibly. Most of the world follows that model. Maybe reviving the much-ridiculed "three-two" (beer with 3.2 percent alcoholic content) as an intermediately permissible libation would be useful.

In any case, two things are clear: College drinking won't go away by itself, and only a strong town-gown-parent-peer effort will change what has become a dangerous brew: students, alcohol, and little adult supervision. In college, late-night candle burning should be for studying, not funeral vigils.

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Date published: 11/16/2004