Tufts students treated for alcohol-related problems have to meet with their prez

Parent Cafe
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<p>I'm impresed by what he's doing.</p>

<p>"MEDFORD — It was a crisp Saturday last fall. Tufts University’s football team had just beaten Bowdoin College in a nail-biter. Proud from the homecoming victory, Tufts president Lawrence Bacow walked toward his house with the president of Bowdoin, showing off the hilltop campus along the way.</p>

<p>But as they arrived at Bacow’s red brick Georgian-style home that October day, they came upon an alarming scene: A firetruck, ambulance, and university police car were parked in front, and a young man, clearly intoxicated, lay sprawled on the grass. Bacow turned to his colleague in disbelief.</p>

<p>“There’s a student passed out on my lawn,’’ Bacow recounted. “At 3:30 in the afternoon!’’</p>

<p>Just one month into the school year, the student became the 16th Tufts undergraduate to be taken to the hospital for excessive drinking. By June, 60 students would be hospitalized.</p>

<p>The homecoming incident inspired Bacow to embark on an uncommon personal quest to combat what he says is a pervasive binge drinking culture on campus. From that day, Tufts students treated for alcohol-related problems have received a terse e-mail from him: “I’d like to meet with you for a few minutes. Please contact my assistant.’’</p>

<p>During the 15 minutes in his office, Bacow resists scolding the students, who are already embarrassed that their behavior has caught the attention of the university president. Instead, he implores them to learn from their mistakes...."</p>

<p>Presidential</a> sobriety check - The Boston Globe</p>

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<p>This is fantastic. Kudos to him. I hope it has an impact.</p>

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<p>For once, a Uni president that takes some responsibility for a REAL teachable moment. Of course, to make it effective, REAL sanctions need to occur when the same student gets invited back for second/third time.</p>

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<p>Outstanding… exactly what I would hope a University President would do…</p>

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<p>Awesome. Let’s inject a little shame back in the process of being drunk.</p>

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<p>I think the parents should be invited to this meeting too.</p>

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<p>Right, because THAT will do something other than make kids that already have one strike less likely to seek medical attention.</p>

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<p>I hope others will follow Bacow’s example. If his meeting prevents just one student from binge drinking, it’s a success.</p>

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<p>This is really great the Prez didn’t sweep it under the carpet. The true test is if it actually accomplishes any change in the student affected, or the student body in general. What does the Prez do to the next student or the next repeat offender?</p>

<p>I remember when DW & I confronted S when he came home intoxicated after a HS party. I’m not sure he drinks any more or any less because of that incident. The feeling I have is he feels we’re old fuddy duddies whose opinion on matters such as this is is outdated and irrelevant.</p>

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<p>Good for the president!</p>

<p>It’s frightening that so many kids ending up in the hospital. D:</p>

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<p>Good PR for the school. I can also see a potential boomerang effect here.</p>

<p>Dad-of-3, I know what you mean. For my 23 year old son, who does drink and I choose to believe his statement that it is in moderation, he found that his experiences working the sound board at various clubs (sober and therefore having to (a) watch other people getting drunk and (b) as an employee clean up after them), was the biggest deterrent to over-indulging on his own time.</p>

<p>My youngest, now age 18, attended a music program in Canada where, as you may know, the drinking age is 18. She was underage at the time and had to wear a name badge with a giant no-drinking symbol on it, which was no problem for her. But it did mean she was the designated “helper” to walk her newly-experimenting friends home from the bar…and she learned a lot about good choices/bad choices from the experience, which she’s hoping will translate into a positive experience with alcohol in college next fall.</p>

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<p>Read this to see how the 18 year old drinking age in Quebec affects campus binge drinking. It is not what you might expect:</p>

<p>[Drinking</a> outside the box](<a href=“http://www.mcgill.ca/reporter/38/01/drinking/]Drinking”>http://www.mcgill.ca/reporter/38/01/drinking/)</p>

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<p>I’m not a fan of this type of statement - it could just as easily be said that if it discourages just one student from seeking help or medical attention for themselves or a friend, it’s a complete failure.</p>

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<p>Tom-- thanks for that article. It’s actually exactly what I would expect. I feel that they should change the drinking age for beer and wine back to 18 and leave the hard liquor laws at 21. I think it’s all the pregaming and drinking enough to stay drunk which is causing this alcohol poisoning. It’s ridiculous. Nearly the entire college population drinks and yet we insist on these dangerous laws.</p>

<p>As for the college president, I suppose he has a right to meet with any student he chooses. I hope he also meets with the kids when they do something really great, as well.</p>

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<p>But a lot of other stats don’t bear that out… For example, Scandinavian countries have higher binge drinking and alcohol-related disease rates than the US but lower drinking age. Dutch students who drink with their parents in HS (a often quoted way to teach safe drinking) have higher rates of alcohol related problems and drink MORE with their peers than those who don’t drink with their parents, etc. </p>

<p>As for the Tufts president, I almost want to laugh at the idea that that’s actually going to impact any number of students. 15 minutes? I guess it’s a nice gesture, though.</p>

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<p>Anyone can find stats that would seem to support their position. The fact is, we have the highest legal drinking age in the developed world. The only countries that match our drinking age are ones like Kazakhstan, UAE, parts of India, and a few others. The vast majority of the rest of the world generally sets the drinking age between 16 and 18. Its not exactly a shocker that some of those countries will have higher “binge drinking” rates than the US and some will have lower.</p>

<p>The more interesting question is how we can justify maintaining a drinking age that is higher than our age of legal majority. I don’t understand how someone can be considered a legal adult at 18, with all that entails - enter into contracts, join the military, marry, make your own medical decisions, etc. - but not be able to purchase alcohol. The public health argument, if there is one to be made, is very questionable, and still doesn’t address the philosophical question of why adults cannot purchase a legal beverage for 3 years after reaching adulthood.</p>

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<p>Wonderful, yet another issue for drunk college students to be discussing when they should be calling for medical help. </p>

<p>Tufts has a drinking problem. I’m not saying it’s better or worse than any other college, just that they have one. The solution is most certainly not 15 minutes with the President, but that’s a lot cheaper and much easier than making real change in the culture of a college.</p>

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<p>would help if he had the student with the alcohol problem, and if they’ve been hospitalized its a problem, be sent to the college counseling center, or student assistance program for an assessment and then counseling to address the problem.</p>

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<p>That’s why I said “a lot of,” not “one.”</p>

<p>As for the public health argument, drunk driving deaths decreased significantly after the drinking age was increased (you do know that was the original argument for it, right?), the brain is still undergoing significant development at 18, having the drinking age at 18 would greatly increase high schooler’s access to alcohol, etc. </p>

<p>Greece was also recently considering up their drinking age to 21, due to issues they were having with teenage drinking (not sure if that went through).</p>

<p>I’m not anti-drinking–really, I’m not. If you drink safely and recognize the risks (including the risk of an MIP), cool. But the idea that a lower drinking age would promote more responsible drinking on average is something that the facts don’t really bear out.</p>

<p>But I don’t feel like getting into this conversation here, really.</p>

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<p>My university did this but on a stepped system…</p>

<p>First MIP/dorm substance write up meant a three hour group discussion seminar and a two hour class.</p>

<p>Second meant a 6 week, 90 minute psychoeducation group and 3 individual sessions (intake, follow-up, and post-group)</p>

<p>Third meant a treatment group (either abstinence or moderation, can’t remember the length) plus more individual sessions.</p>

<p>Severity of offence didn’t factor into it unless the court, university, or client made a request for more intensive intervention.</p>

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<p>I wholeheartedly agree with this.</p>