Choose Responsibility: Drinking on College Campuses

Parent Cafe
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<p>John M. McCardell Jr., past president of Middlebury College, wants to start an open, honest, national conversation about alcohol consumption on college campuses. He intends to do just that with the creation of a nonprofit group called Choose Responsibility. McCardell aim is to open the debate on college alcohol consumption to raise awareness not only about out of control drinking, but problems that exist on so-called dry campuses, and the need to find a viable alternative to the 21-year-old drinking age.</p>

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The group will also push an idea — floated without success in the 1990s by Roderic Park, then chancellor of the University of Colorado at Boulder — to allow 18-20-year-olds who complete an alcohol education program to obtain “drinking licenses.” And McCardell and others plan to start speaking out, writing more op-eds, and trying to redefine the issue.</p>

<p>The current law, McCardell said in an interview Thursday, is a failure that forces college freshmen to hide their drinking — while colleges must simultaneously pretend that they have fixed students’ drinking problems and that students aren’t drinking. McCardell also argued that the law, by making it impossible for a 19-year-old to enjoy two beers over pizza in a restaurant, leads those 19-year-olds to consume instead in closed dorm rooms and fraternity basements where 2 beers are more likely to turn into 10, and no responsible person may be around to offer help or to stop someone from drinking too much...</p>

<p>Then these students land at colleges, creating “an impossible situation” for institutions, McCardell said. “You either become an arm of the law, which you are not about, or a haven from the law, which poses a fundamental ethical dilemma,” he said. To the extent colleges have changed drinking patterns, they have not stopped drinking, but forced it off campus or underground. Students are then “much more vulnerable.”</p>

<p>McCardell is well aware of the odds against changing the laws, but he said that so few members of the public have ever seen or thought about the evidence — and that change is possible with a sustained public campaign. As a former president, McCardell said that he can understand why a sitting president wouldn’t want to take the lead on this issue, but he said he thinks some will join the effort if it can establish traction. “I hope to encourage them,” he said.</p>

<p>Such a campaign will be welcomed in some quarters, but not others.</p>

<p>Henry Wechsler, who surveyed the drinking habits of thousands of college students for a series of projects at the Harvard School of Public Health College Alcohol study, called McCardell’s approach “a poor idea.” Wechsler said that 19-year-olds just don’t drink responsibly so there is no reason for them to drink, period. “Nineteen-year-olds do not have two beers. When they drink, they drink a lot,” he said. “What happens to 16- and 17-year-olds. Should they also be legal?”...

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<p><a href="http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2007/02/16/drinking%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2007/02/16/drinking&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

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<p>This is definitely a good idea and probably the best solution towards making drinking more responsible. Colleges should own up to the fact that student drinking will occur and need to try to mitigate the problem. </p>

<p>What I still don't get, even after almost two years in college, is why students are obsessed with alcohol. It's really not that great, especially in large amounts.</p>

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<p>"What I still don't get, even after almost two years in college, is why students are obsessed with alcohol." </p>

<p>Exactly. If we don't understand WHY students drink excessively (or don't address those reasons at the same time), how can we expect them to drink responsibly even if given license to?</p>

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<p>Maybe the problem lies with alcohol being the "forbidden fruit". Maybe if the legal age was turned back to 18 or 19, maybe there wouldn't be so much binge drinking.</p>

<p>One of the main reasons why states turned the drinking age to 21 from 18 years ago was so that their highways could collect funds from the federal government. So, here are some questions. Was binge drinking an issue on college campuses years ago when the legal age was 18? I don't know the answer to that, but I would be curious to find out.</p>

<p>Way back during the medieval times when I was 18, the drinking age was 18. My friends and I drank, but we didnt' do it to excess. I am blown away by the things my teenagers tell me kids drink now-a-days. Is it just that things with the young ones have gotten so out of hand (open sex on TV, all the violence on TV and Movies ...ie., SAW, Hannibal Lecture, etc)? that alcohol consumption became so abused?</p>

<p>I don't know. I think it would be interesting to find out what would happen if our society tried to clean up their act (ie., what's allowed in the media, and if we reduced the age a bit.</p>

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<p>I agree with the "forbidden fruit" aspect.</p>

<p>The drinking age was 18 when I went to college in NYS in the early 80s. While there were many bars and clubs (and still are!) in my little college town, we weren't going out and getting drunk every night. If you did that, you flunked out, period. Yes, many freshman did go wild once they came to school, but that behavior tended to end after the first semester, and the shock of grades.</p>

<p>I just find it reprehensible that an 18 year old can serve in Iraq but cannot order a drink to celebrate their return.</p>

<p>A typical night out during my college days consisted of me and a friend or two pooling our meager resources and splitting a pitcher of beer at the local bar. We'd always run into lots of friends, we'd talk, dance and have fun. The goal was not to get blotto, just to relax and blow off a little steam.</p>

<p>I know plenty of 30 and 40 year olds who drink to excess. I also know when my son comes home from college, he'll be welcome to have a glass of wine at the dinner table, but I certainly wont be hosting beer parties at our house!</p>

<p>Young people desperately need to learn responsible drinking, and they won't learn it behind closed doors quaffing vodka with dorm buddies.</p>

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<p>Henry Wechsler's research for Harvard School of Public Health College Alcohol study, as far as I know, has never looked at the break-out of excessive drinking locations (i.e. on-campus, bars, off-campus private apartments).</p>

<p>Anyone familiar with college towns and college students since the raising of the drinking age knows that as campuses go dry (and pat themselves on the back) and bars increase age-checking measures, the bulk of student drinking moves into off-campus student rentals where there never is a real problem in obtaining a supply of alcohol, and there never is much real supervision of the drinking.</p>

<p>In fact, studies show that more underage college students are pre-loading (having multiple drinks) at private residences off-campus before going to sporting activities, or out to bars for the evening. Or they skip the public social scene all together and just have drinking parties at the off-campus location du jour.</p>

<p>The higher drinking age may have had positive impact on young drivers, but the negative impact for underage college students probably greatly outways that.</p>

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<p>Current law has saved thousands and thousands of lives. We have side-by-side studies of states where the drinking age went up and where it didn't, and there really isn't any question about that. </p>

<p>There are dozens of campuses which have cut their binge drinking (and alcohol hospitalization) rates by as much without any change in ages whatsover. It is not AT ALL an impossible situation. (All he has to do is go ask his friend, the President of Hobart & William Smith, a college even more remote than Middlebury.) McCardell knows that quite well, but when it comes to his well-heeled charges (and alumni), he is simply a coward. </p>

<p>"What I still don't get, even after almost two years in college, is why students are obsessed with alcohol. It's really not that great, especially in large amounts."</p>

<p>Because many of them started drinking well before they got to college, and developed a strong taste for it. Many of them are alcohol-dependent, and would have difficulty quitting. And, just the opposite of forbidden fruit, they are able and welcome to drink virtually as much as they want. If you allow your campus to become an upper class tavern, as Middlebury has, you shouldn't be surprised when students drink too much.</p>

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If you allow your campus to become an upper class tavern, as Middlebury has, you shouldn't be surprised when students drink too much.

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<p>wow mini. you're out of control sometimes. how has Middlebury become an "upper class tavern"? The drinking situation at Middlebury is no different than it is at most other colleges, elite, rural, or otherwise (including your alma mater). Why don't you enlighten us on how colleges can solve the binge drinking problem? Eliminating frats? Using scare tactics? Arresting students for alcohol violations? Closing down student pubs?</p>

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<p>I think that if mini had a universal recipe for addressing binge drinking, he would be a very wealthy man. Different colleges require different approaches depending on their drinking cultures.</p>

<p>IMO, schools with the luxury of having many qualified applicants for every spot in the freshman class can probably impact the drinking culture by starting with the admissions office, i.e. admit fewer drunks. Or to put it in simple terms, instead of getting rid of the frats, get rid of some of the "frat boys". Unfortunately, this approach may run counter to more important admissions priorities. It is not that difficult to identify student profiles that tend to correlate with high binge drinking rates (and maybe even identify specific binge drinker feeder high schools). Shift admissions priorities away from these profiles and towards the profiles of lower binge drinker students.</p>

<p>After that, there are several different approaches. Social norms marketing appears to work at some schools, although perhaps not at very high binge drinking rate schools. Strict enforcement has worked at some schools. I think a very demanding academic program, particularly one that requires active participation in class, may tend to damp down drinking. Moving away from freshmen apartheid housing policies probably helps as incoming students are exposed to successful junior/senior role models instead of the blind leading the blind. I think you have to come down like a ton of bricks on organizations that promote binge drinking, whether it be frats or sports teams.</p>

<p>It's a difficult challenge.</p>

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<p>"wow mini. you're out of control sometimes. how has Middlebury become an "upper class tavern"? The drinking situation at Middlebury is no different than it is at most other colleges, elite, rural, or otherwise (including your alma mater). Why don't you enlighten us on how colleges can solve the binge drinking problem? Eliminating frats? Using scare tactics? Arresting students for alcohol violations? Closing down student pubs?</p>

<p>First of all, Middlebury is indeed an upper-class tavern - their own data shows it. I'm not backing off from that statement one iota, until I see data to the contrary. They provide an environment where binge and dangerous drinking is commonplace, and I doubt McCardell would have even opened his mouth if that wasn't the case. (It is other wonderful things as well.) McCardell is a coward because, whether or not his idea is a good one, he knows that it has absolutely no chance of being effected in the next 20 years, so it absolves him from having tackle his own campus. </p>

<p>The drinking situation at every campus is different. (and I will grant that it is no better at my alma mater.) But the number of successful interventions, evidence-based, scientifically proven to reduce binge drinking, heavy drinking, and alcohol hospitalizations is large and growing. They range from social norms marketing approaches (successfully pioneered at Hobart & Wm. Smith), to inviting local police on campus just as they would be patrolling other neighborhoods (successful at Western Washington U., among others), to declaring a dry campus (as at Earlham - doesn't make a campus dry, but majorly reduces binge drinking, and attracts different students), to strictly enforcing an alcohol ban (University of Oklahoma - tremendous success so far, and, no, it doesn't prevent all drinking), to enacting a strict two-strikes honor code, enforced by RAs; to curbing frats when necessary; to revamping entire housing systems (Williams is now trying that); to setting up alcohol-free zones with communities around campus. The list is much, much longer than that. Do all of these approaches work in all places all of the time? Of course not! That's why there are college presidents, with some of the best minds in the country teaching at these very same colleges, who can tailor approaches to their own campus needs.</p>

<p>(P.S. I am NOT a prohibitionist, and banning alcohol on campus is far from my favorite approach, even though it has been shown to effect very positive changes.)</p>

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<p>Who are the high school drinkers that become college drinkers?</p>

<p>How do colleges stop accepting drinkers?</p>

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<p>Yay! Another alcohol thread.</p>

<p>I am ambivalent to the point of incoherence on this. I think that mini is absolutely right that the raised drinking age has saved thousands of lives, mainly on the roads. I also think it undermines respect for the law. Older teenagers drink. Everywhere in the world, as far as I know, or at least everywhere that anyone drinks, and except for the places where people smoke funny stuff instead. They like to get high. It causes problems, but the problems clearly don't go away with age-limited or campus-limited prohibition. Maybe they're less, maybe they're more.</p>

<p>Does anyone look at the data from Canada? Quebec still has an 18 drinking age, and Ontario 19. How different do they look from, say, Vermont, or Ohio? McGill or Toronto vs. large urban universities in the US?</p>

<p>(You want a striking example of one of the otherwise non-existant cultural differences between us and our Northern Neighbors? When my daughter's best friend got her orientation package from McGill, a big feature was events scheduled in various bars or clubs around Montreal. The cover letter provided a number to call if the student wasn't going to be 18 by the beginning of orientation, so that the university could give them an ID that said they were 18 so they wouldn't be excluded from the events. No kidding! Talk about not being an arm of the law . . . )</p>

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<p>If McCardell were serious about doing something at Middlebury, he could invite alcoholic alumni who had paid the price and are in recovery (there are plenty) to campus every September to talk to freshman, and meet with them individually. I have no idea whether it would be effective, but it would at least indicate that he wasn't a coward.</p>

<p>Maybe he can even get Britney Spears when she gets out. ;)</p>

<p>"How do colleges stop accepting drinkers?"</p>

<p>I wouldn't think they have to stop accepting them. I think they could indicate, with a simple question on the application (following the one that asks about arrests, etc.) that they even care.</p>

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<p>What would that question be, mini?</p>

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<p>"Have you ever drunk alcohol or used illicit drugs with your chronological peers? If so, please explain."</p>

<p>I mean, they already ask about illegal behavior (about which some kids already lie), so this wouldn't be any different.</p>

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<p>But then would they not admit any kids that (truthfully) said yes?</p>

<p>I mean, kids know they <em>might</em> get caught lying about a criminal record...</p>

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<p>Oh, not at all. The schools could do what they like, as part of "holistic admissions". The kids might get caught on this question if the school asks the guidance counselor as well. It would place the kids (and parents) in a conundrum, and, over time, I think it would have a massive impact.</p>

<p>Lots of adults lie about their drinking and drugging too (hey, I work with 'em!) But it would indicate that the school was serious, and that would be more than enough to start.</p>

<p>If the President of Middlebury were really concerned, he could do this tomorrow, without asking anyone else to do anything differently. (But he won't.)</p>

<p>Or he can continue to operate his tavern. (though he is no longer Pres.)</p>

<p>"Middlebury, with 2300 students, had about 100 alcohol-related ER transports in the 2002-2003 academic year." (one of McCardell's "peaks of conspicuous excellence".) (I'm looking for later data that is a matter of public record. And, to be totally fair, McCardell is past-President - though those hospitalizations occurred on his watch. I do know that they've beefed up campus security since then.)</p>

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<p>"Have you ever drunk alcohol or used illicit drugs with your chronological peers? If so, please explain."</p>

<p>Well, at my kid's high school, 345 out of 350 kids in the senior class would have to answer yes.</p>

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<p>Good! And then they'd have to answer the question. They could lie, or do some introspection. And the parents would know that the schools care (even if they don't make use of the answers in admission - there would be no way for the kids, parents, or GCs to know.)</p>

<p>(In our state, it would be 72.6% - a very far cry from 345 out of 350. It may be that your local high school could benefit from some social norms marketing).</p>

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<p>It is Marin County. ;)</p>