Ari Denberg: Balance is the Key to a Safe School Environment

As of right now, the primary problem with alcohol policy on college campuses is a combination of enforcement as well as the policies themselves. Most people would agree that binge drinking on college campuses is a problem that deserves a substantial amount of attention in order to address. According to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism approximately 37.9% of college students report binge drinking in the last month (4 drinks in 2 hours for women and 5 for men). This kind of behavior should be enough to warrant immediate action in colleges across the country, but in a study done by the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, it was found that of the 343 colleges surveyed “At over 50% of colleges, proactive enforcement of alcohol use prohibition was regularly conducted at some types of campus events where drinking tends to occur, such as intercollegiate sporting events, dances/concerts, and homecoming.…” But, “fewer colleges conducted proactive enforcement at other types of events where drinking is also likely to occur, such as dorm parties/gatherings, fraternity/sorority events, and tailgating events”. This is precisely this problem. While 50% enforcement rate is already low,  in neglecting to enforce policies at these additional high risk environments, it begs the questions of why even have these policies at all if they are not being completely enforced. Particularly in schools with large fraternity and sorority populations, school administrations are simply not looking in the right places in terms of where the problem lies. Greek life is a proven hot-spot for high risk and binge drinking. According a New York Times article by William Honan it is found that 80% of affiliated sorority women and 86% of affiliated fraternity men who live in their organizations house are regular binge drinkers. Additionally, just being in the greek system increases risk with 71% of fraternity members and 58% of sorority members admitting to being regular binge drinkers, this is a significant increase in the overall 38% of college students. Despite the fact that organizations like this pose a clear problem that deserves additional direct attention from schools, universities may not put in the resources or have also been known to turn a blind eye to this behavior in fear of losing donor money.

So what can be done? If high risk drinking is so embedded in the culture already, is there a solution that will allow for a reduction in public health risk while still maintaining the integrity of college culture and not becoming overbearing? Many would argue that yes, this is possible. However, this solution is not as easy or as low risk as simply tightening restrictions for college and university students. But, it may end up being more effective in the long run. In an article written for the American Journal of Public Health on this question author David Lewis argues that “the goals of a campus alcohol and drug policy should be to acknowledge that some alcohol and drug use will occur and to intervene to prevent its harmful consequences.”  This approach would not involve university administrations simply looking the other way, but it would be quite the opposite. According to a Huffington Post Article by Will Sharon “Punishing students for underage drinking causes them to hide their participation rather than limit it, thus minimizing the ability of universities to monitor their safety.” So, if more campuses decide to prioritize the health and safety of their student body as opposed to continuing to push for a reduction in alcohol consumption, that thus far, has not had great success, the college environment might become a much safer place.

To aid in this, there is also a component of education that has the potential to help with overall alcohol usage reduction. On a similar front to the arguments made by Sharon and Lewis, according to an NPR article by Karen Bates John McCardell the former president of Middlebury College, believes there is hope for change in education. According to him, as quoted in the article “You know, the reality is that alcohol is a part of the lives of 18-, 19-, and 20-year-olds… we can deny it, we can try to legislate it away, but in fact, it is a presence” With this in mind, his belief is that instead of looking the other way, or having school administration crack down even harder, education for college students can be beneficial. He advocates for online programs such as “AlcoholEdu” which serves as an education tool for college age students about alcohol and binge drinking.

It’s not just McCardell that thinks this way. A New York Times article by Deirdre Carmody on the topic suggests that “alcohol education programs and changes in public attitudes toward drinking are having their effect on college students. They [college officials] find the apparent decline among moderate drinkers encouraging.” It is important to note that this article is referring to moderate drinking being reduced, but as stated, this reduction based on education and the conversations around alcohol  is encouraging for the future.

With nearly 38% of college students binge drinking, and articles and journals dating back to the early 90’s trying to address this problem, there seems to be a disconnect between what is happening and what college administrators are doing to prevent it. By approaching the problem from a perspective that aims to treat college students like the adults they are, and aims to educate and keep student safe from serious harm, there is potential for students to learn on their own how to drink responsibility.