Two UVA Students on Life Support, Six Hospitalized

<p>I have an acquantance who is a professor at a small LAC. She said a lot of college administrators wish the drinking age would go back to 18. That way, things would be more out in the open and colleges would be better able to regulate alcohol on campus. The way it is now, students fly under the radar and colleges have little control.</p>

<p>I agree with that professor although it seems to be an unpopular opinion on this site. I would have liked to allow my adult children to drink responsibly in my home, but I couldn’t. I also think it encourages them to binge in private rather than drink sensibly in public.</p>

<p>In many states you CAN allow your adult children to drink in your home, under your supervision. In fact, in many states they don’t have to be 18 - but they have to be served by their parents or guardians. Learning to drink responsibly under the supervision of your parents is not the same as learning to drink with a group of other young adult students.</p>

<p>I think the increase in the drinking age from 18 to 21 has resulted in more binge drinking. The vast majority of students on campus are not of legal drinking age, so they drink at home—the pre-party before the pre-party. Bars in college towns have shuttered because 3/4 of their customers cannot legally enter and the others don’t bother going.</p>

<p>We drank heavily in college, but it was more along the lines of drinking steadily for many hours, with much time spent traveling from one party to the next and waiting in lines for drinks. I shudder when I read about the quantities consumed today.</p>

<p>The binge drinking these young people partake in scares me and dropping the drinking age to 18 will probably not work. That is my opinion after talking to some young people. They like to get plastered quickly. Some of these young people are very successful and or great people too. Binge drinking is some cool social activity in their eyes.</p>

<p>There are young people out of college that still binge drink.</p>

<p>dstark–is there a chance that binge drinking became so socially acceptable b/c of the increased drinking age? My oldest is 16 so I do not have any insight at all. </p>

<p>Binge drinking may be so imbedded that a move to age 18 might not have an impact. I truly do not know…but as a parent, I am frightened. I agree with Harvest Moon’s post above about how even level-headed students can be swayed when away from home for first time.</p>

<p>One poster mentioned “the technicality of age,” meaning the age of majority. Well, it’s not a technicality. Anyone age 18 or older, whether student or not, is legally an adult. A simplistic argument but bear with me. The age issue complicates the matter for the university authorities, particularly if the drinking happened in a privately owned house wherein some of the participants were of age to legally consume alcohol.</p>

<p>That being said, I agree that the universities need to take some action to better prepare Freshmen for the challenges of being a responsible citizen and campus community member.</p>

<p>CT1417, </p>

<p>There is a chance. I just don’t think it is thst much of a factor. Right now, I see kids drinking pretty heavily in high school. I don’t see how dropping the drinking age to 18 stops 15 and 16 year olds from drinking.</p>

<p>People like to drink. These kids like to drink.</p>

<p>The action also needs to start at home before the summer the student heads to college. One of our children pushed the envelope in high school in regards to alcohol. It is shocking how sneeky teenagers can be when they don’t want adults to know what they are up to. I actually picked this child up from a party and he/she got in the car drunk. After that happened we had many discussions about the dangers of underage/binge drinking. I’m not saying that he/she suddenly became an angel because that wasn’t the case. But I do think some sank into that thick skull over time and even though I know there was still underage drinking going on when college started, I think and hope it was done with more smarts.</p>

<p>LakeWashington, as far as UVA is concerned it is my understanding that the Fraternity Alumni Corporations own the homes but that UVA owns the land that these fraternities sit on. So technically, they are on campus. There is also an “affiliation agreement” between UVA and every fraternity and sorority. So clearly UVA has plenty of control if they chose to exercise it.</p>

<p>The case 2 years ago at UVA is the perfect example of the smart, level headed freshman, perhaps seeking to “re-invent” himself in college. While pledging one of the most sought after fraternities on campus he was forced to eat dog food, gelfilte fish, matzo balls and a whole bottle of soy sauce. He began to foam at the mouth and have seizures and was in the ICU for 4 days. (Apparently the high sodium content of the soy sauce created a severe
electrolyte imbalance.) Besides the clear personal safety issues in this case, I believe there were claims of religious undertones to this hazing incident. The sad thing is that I believe at the end of the day this boy decided not to move forward with any legal action against the fraternity, although prosecutors in Virginia were willing to do so. I suppose he wanted to return to campus and knew the ramifications of pressing charges.</p>

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<p>I strongly disagree. Parents need to take the responsibility to educate their children about the dangers of alcohol before they go to college so that they can be responsible citizens.</p>

<p>I’m not a big fan of fraternities and sororities that promote the heavy drinking lifestyle. Fortunately there are none on my D’s campus.</p>

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<p>Anyone note the mixed messages here. Publicly – to the press – UVa touts its “zero tolerance policy.” And then when meeting with Greek leaders, the Dean just admonishes them to try to “minimize” the incidents.</p>

<p>Which is it, Dean Groves? Either you have – and enforce – a zero tolerance policy or you (obviously) do not have one. </p>

<p>Personally, I think that they should add 'incidents" to the Honor Code for which UVa is so proud.</p>

<p>I see binge drinking as an unintended consequence of treating 18-25 year old adults like children. I am 47 years old and I when I went to college it was EXPECTED that I was an adult and would manage my life independently. Since that is what was expected of me, I complied (mostly). I drank on campus before I turned 19 which was the drinking age at the time. However, I acted like an adult. I am not saying I never got drunk but I think the sort of binge drinking you currently see on campuses was much more rare.</p>

<p>At that time (1983) my parents did not go to an orientation. I was the one going to college not my parents. I never sought their assistance in choosing classes. I was an adult and expected to manage my own class registration. Nobody would have dreamed asking for their parents to assist them with a room mate issue or to approach the dean for help when facing academic probation. We were adults and expected to resolve our own issues. </p>

<p>Fast forward 30 years and we treat our adult children like they are still 12. We consider them adults only technically. We do not expect that they will be able to do basic things for themselves like registering for classes and resolving their own conflicts. It is no wonder than they have no idea how to drink responsibly. They are expecting us (I am speaking generationally, not personally) to step in and save them because we always have.</p>

<p>I think that if our generation returned to treating our adult offspring like actual adults we would see a decrease in childish behavior in them.</p>

<p>^^^I think part of the problem is that nowadays, adults don’t want to be adults and want to identify with their children and what they see as their children’s fun lives. Youth is worshipped and I think some of these helicopter parents are trying to recapture their lost youth and live through their children.</p>

<p>It’s not just UVA. Somehow the cultural message that our children are getting (and it’s everywhere) is that part of “doing college” and “being cool” is constant, heavy drinking. Of course the colleges need to act, but parents (and the media) need to think about what message we’re sending our children, and it doesn’t start in college. The heaviest drinkers partied heavily in high school.</p>

<p>“I think the increase in the drinking age from 18 to 21 has resulted in more binge drinking.”</p>

<p>We have data on this issue, and it isn’t true. Actually, less. But the nature of binge drinking changed with the introduction of the alcopops 2001-2003. Comparisons with 1983 are simply not apt. What has changed significantly is not the number or percentage of people who are binge drinking, but the intensity of binge drinking, directly linked to drink of choice.</p>

<p>You wanna see a mess? See what is going on in England, where you see 15-16 year olds plastered on the streets, and the government is trying to quadruple the minimum price of alcohol.</p>

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So beer and wine are still okay during recruitment?</p>

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<p>I guess beer and wine don’t fall under the so-called “zero tolerance” policy. :rolleyes:</p>

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<p>I don’t think this is the core of the problem, although this mindset exists among some parents. I think the core of the problem is that we treat 18-25 year olds like babies so they act like babies. If we FORCED them to act like adult they would.</p>

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<p>Are humans significantly different in their development at age 18 than they were in 1983? I think not.</p>