Departments
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Week of 10 October 1997 |
Vol. I, No. 7 |
Feature
Article
Alcohol Awareness Week to probe campus drinking issues
by Brian Fitzgerald
"Even as college students discover the intricacies of quantum physics and American history, many do not grasp an enormous health problem on our college campuses: alcohol abuse." --Donna Shalala, U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services.
In the film Leaving Las Vegas, writer Ben Sanderson goes on the ultimate drinking binge. He swills beer underwater in a swimming pool. He guzzles vodka in the shower. In the end, he drinks himself to death.
The melancholy movie will be shown October 21 at 7 p.m. in the George Sherman Union Conference Auditorium during Alcohol Awareness Week at Boston University, from October 19 to 25. Other events include workshops for adult children of alcoholics and on alcohol and rape, along with a 5K awareness run/walk on the Esplanade.
Although Leaving Las Vegas depicts the extremes of alcohol abuse, the fact is that excessive drinking is a problem on college campuses across the country. According to a 1993 study by Dr. Henry Wechsler of Harvard's School of Public Health, as many as 50 percent of all male college students are binge drinkers, as are 44 percent of their female classmates. Wechsler's study, based on a survey of 15,592 students at 140 four-year colleges, also found that binge drinking -- defined as consuming five or more drinks in one sitting -- is most prevalent at colleges in the Northeast.
"Boston University is no exception," says Herb Ross, associate vice president and associate dean of students, who points out that Alcohol Awareness Week was planned long before the September 29 death of MIT freshman Mark Kreuger, who had lapsed into an alcohol-induced coma three days earlier. In Boston, home to more than 60 colleges and universities, the tragedy has put student drinking in the public spotlight. Since Kreuger's death, Massachusetts Attorney General Scott Harshbarger has filed a bill aimed at preventing underage drinking and the Boston City Council has scheduled a public hearing on alcohol consumption at colleges. In addition, the state Department of Public Health will undertake a radio campaign aimed at educating teenagers about the dangers of alcohol.
"We have comprehensive and continuous alcohol awareness and abuse prevention programs to point out the dangers of binge drinking," says Ross. "We also have a strong enforcement component." BU's alcohol policy is in accordance with state law: students who are under 21 may not possess or consume alcoholic beverages. In addition, the quantity of alcoholic beverages residents 21 or older are permitted to bring into or store in any residence facility is limited to 72 ounces of beer and one liter of other alcoholic beverages. Guests, regardless of age, are prohibited from bringing alcoholic beverages into residences.
"But like any campus in the United States, many freshmen come to college every fall with the tradition and habit of drinking already well-established in high school -- and in some cases, as early as middle school," says Ross. "A major problem is that there is a tacit acceptance of drinking in many school systems. Administrators and teachers say, ÔWell, we're not dealing with weapons or drugs, so we can live with it.' Then when the students go to college, the ones who used to hide their drinking from their parents are now living in an environment in which mom and dad aren't there to keep things in check. And the University cannot totally assume the parents' role."
However, those who engage in alcohol-related misconduct on or off campus are subject to disciplinary action at Boston University, and that includes expulsion. Several BU students interviewed by the BU Bridge say that the University's alcohol policies are effective, but to paraphrase an old saying, if there is a will to drink, there is a way. "There is no way a school can stop all underage drinking and problem drinking," says Raymond Jean (SAR'99). "Students can get fake IDs and drink anyway. But I think BU enforces its rules as much as can be expected." Larry Wang (CAS'99) says Boston University's alcohol policies are strict, but "the University can go only so far without violating students' privacy." Alcohol "is not difficult to get in this city," says Diana Laky (CAS'99). "But BU is pretty aggressive when it comes to keeping it out of the residence halls where minors live. My parents were imp