Alcohol 101
At last ... an common sense approach to college age drinking. College Town
Life applauds the work of Choose Responsibility. See the article to the
left, and the group's Web site information below:
"CHOOSE RESPONSIBILITY
is a nonprofit organization founded to stimulate informed and dispassionate
public discussion about the presence of alcohol in American culture and
to consider policies that will effectively empower young adults age 18 to
20 to make mature decisions about the place of alcohol in their own lives.
Alcohol is a reality in the lives of young Americans. It cannot be denied,
ignored, or legislated away."
Legal Drinking Age
Why
the Drinking Age Should be Lowered: An Opinion Based on Research -
Dr. Ruth Engs
ALCOHOL RESEARCH
AND HEALTH INFORMATION - web site of Dr. Ruth Engs, professor of sociology
at Indiana University, Bloomington, IN
Legal
Drinking Age - Alcohol: Problems & Solutions Site - web site maintained
by Dr. David J. Hanson,
Sociology Department, State University of New York, Potsdam, NY
COLUMN:
Lower the drinking age
Columbia Daily Spectator - 6 Dec 2005
...NEW YORK - The problem with drinking in America is not what we drink,
but where we drink it and when. Here, a house party with an open bar is
usually the first venue: though ADP was banding everyone who could show
ID, most parties are held to get around the drinking age that's been imposed
on us by the national government.
This legal minimum has essentially turned sensible drinking
habits upside down: first drinking experiences for America's young are
uncontrolled, unsupervised, and on an empty stomach, with unmeasured quantities
of alcohol. Only later is it permitted to drink in restaurants and in
bars, and only later do parents begin to drink with their children.
Later was too late for many of my peers: I had at least
three acquaintances who went through rehab or were in AA by the end of
my senior year. I never saw their descents: I was studying overseas when
most of them started drinking. All I know is that their parents tried
to stop them, and they found a way regardless. According to Mothers Against
Drunk Driving, 94 percent of high school seniors consider alcohol easy
to acquire. One in three is a binge drinker...
Another
Voice Silenced in Drinking Age Debate -
2002 article by Kerry Howley, a senior at Georgetown University
College
Drinking
web site of Aaron M. White, PhD., Duke University Medical Center
Sometimes a party is more than a party
With the raising of drinking ages, and more campuses going alcohol-free,
partying in off-campus residences has become the norm. While most homeowners
in family/student neighborhoods expect that there will be occasional parties
and noise, few neighbors (student or year-round) want to live next door
to a house that throws regular, uncontrolled parties. In some instances,
regular party houses are a profit center for their residents; as described
in the articles below.
House
Rules
In campus-area neighborhoods the house party is thriving. Who
runs them? Who is trying to shut them down? And is there more at stake than
just a little college fun.
On Wisconsin - Fall 2006
Madison, WI
News Links
Students
differ over meaning of alcohol stats
News - 16 Jul 2007
... ATHENS, OH - Ohio University officials are calling an enhanced alcohol
policy aimed at reducing incidents of high-risk drinking a success,
citing a recent report illustrating a decrease in both alcohol-related
Judiciary cases and repeat offenses during the three quarters since
the policy's implementation.
Some students, however, say little has changed and
that the report only confirms what they already know; in the face of
harsher punishments for their fellow students, residence assistants
(RAs) performed fewer write-ups and alcohol drinkers simply did more
to conceal the practice ...
GU
Walks a Tightrope With Keg Decision
Nationwide Leaders Disagree on Policy
Hoya - 19 Jan 2007
...GEORGETOWN, DC - Vice President for Student Affairs Todd Olson rejected
last week a recommendation by a disciplinary committee to remove kegs
from campus, citing his review of policies at other universities as
a strong factor. But administrators at campuses across the nation have
been unable to reach a consensus regarding the use of kegs in university
housing.
Many universities across the country — including
large research institutions and Catholic schools — have enforced
effective keg bans in recent years, while numerous others have held
to less restrictive alcohol policies. Schools like Boston College, Dartmouth
College and Harvard University have lifted their policies banning kegs
in recent years, while many other universities — including University
of Maryland, University of Notre Dame and the University of Pennsylvania
— currently enforce keg bans ...
[Editor's Note: Banning kegs on campus
is just one more way universities shift unregulated, underage drinking
into near-campus neighborhoods. The leaders who disagree with GU's position
need to take a look at the impact these bans have on their college towns.
Campus bans are an 'easy button,' for administrators. They really only
boost campus public relations efforts.]
Dry
campus means a wet downtown
Dry campus policies force drove of underage drunks onto
a down town community that does not deserve the burden
Vermont Cynic - 12 Sep 2006
...BURLINGTON, VT - For about two weeks student residents have been
living on a "dry" University of Vermont campus. Of course,
what has been accomplished is not so much a dry campus as a more careful
or paranoid student population. This is no small wonder to anyone who
has looked hard at the actual policy shift, which manifests itself most
clearly only to those unlucky or stupid enough to get caught...
But then, it always has been easier and more efficient
to burden the community than work through difficulties internally. Coupled
with the increased enrollment and disproportionate increase in on-campus
housing, it will not be long before outraged, under-rested suburbanites
and displaced low-income families are picketing on the green-that is,
if the boys in Waterman don't call Police Services and have them all
removed...
Doing
the right thing doesn't go unnoticed
Many offered to help a student fined for underage drinking
after he called 911 to report that an 18-year-old had passed out.
Star Tribune - 31 Jan 2006
...MINNEAPOLIS, MN - Nick Stremer finally got the kind of citation he
thought he deserved when he called 911 to report that an 18-year-old
woman had passed out after drinking excessively. But he still was fined
Monday for being an underage drinker himself.
"I'd like to pay his fine," said Julian Kycia,
whose son, Patrick Kycia, of Stillwater, a sophomore at Moorhead State,
was found dead in the Red River after a night of drinking at a fraternity
house. "Maybe if there had been somebody like Nick around, someone
who had an eye on my son, Patrick might still be alive."...
Party-ban
law could change
Police report problems with enforcement
Herald-Leader - 11 Jan 2006
...LEXINGTON, KY - The 4-year-old Lexington Area Party Plan could be
headed for a revision this year.
The city's Town & Gown Commission will look into
what changes are needed to make the controversial party plan more effective,
said Councilman David Stevens, a commission co-chair...
"We understand the police have lost their enthusiasm"
for the party plan, said Stevens. "You cite somebody and the courts
go around it."
The party plan, approved in 2001, puts properties on
a "no-party" list after convictions on two violations, typically
of the noise ordinance...
A
SIP of discipline
Daily Local - 18 Dec 2005
...WEST CHESTER, PA - Borough police officers will not just arrest
underage drinkers, they will also investigate how minors get their hands
on alcohol, under a new program launched this month.
The Source Investigation Project (SIP), a partnership
between the West Chester Police Department and the Pennsylvania Liquor
Control Board, aims to reduce minors’ access to alcohol.
"This is our environment, this is what we are trying to address
and this is where we are going to put some of our resources," Police
Chief Scott Bohn said of the new program...
Nuisance
party law is upheld on appeal
Court links measure to public safety, health
Blade - 10 Dec 2005
...BOWLING GREEN, OH - The 6th District Court of Appeals yesterday upheld
Bowling Green's right to cite hosts of parties whose guests are engaging
in illegal activities, saying the 1 1/2-year-old nuisance party law
was constitutional.
Student Legal Services Inc. at Bowling Green State
University challenged the law intended to quell loud college parties,
saying the ordinance violated students' rights of due process and free
assembly...
U
student leaders fight party rule
Minnesota Daily - 7 Dec 2005
...MINNEAPOLIS, MN - University student governmental bodies’ efforts
this week might lead to changes in a proposed Minneapolis city ordinance...
In late November, Zerby proposed the ordinance that
would seek to deal with noisy or “unruly” assemblies. It
will be reconsidered at a Dec. 14 Public Safety and Regulatory Services
Committee Meeting...
If
the House is Rockin', They'll Come Knockin'
Scene - 7 Dec 2005
...FORT COLLINS, CO - “You gotta fight for your right to party.”
- The Beastie Boys
Being a college student in a university town isn't
what it used to be. The days of togas, tailgates and tallboys have been
replaced with tickets, trials and the tailored interests of those people
that truly matter to a city: taxpayers.
It was once assumed that living near a major university
campus meant sharing the neighborhood with beer guzzling, music blasting
college kids. If you didn't like it, you moved. Simple as that.
Not anymore...
City-wide
ordinance limits party activity
Daily Orange - 6 Dec 2005
...SYRACUSE, NY - Syracuse Mayor Matthew Driscoll officially signed
the Nuisance Party Ordinance, which was put forth by the Syracuse Police
Department and the Syracuse Common Council.
The ordinance, which was promoted by the Southeast
University Neighborhood Association and Syracuse University, details
a list of reasons the Syracuse Police can use to break up parties.
Whereas before Syracuse Police could only break up
a party after a complaint from a neighbor, the new ordinance now allows
authorities to break up them up without notice.
Police can break up a party if they witness disorderly
conduct; the sale, possession or consumption of alcohol by underage
individuals; public urination or defecation; destruction of property;
and parking or walking that impedes the steady flow of traffic on and
around the area of the party.
"I hope the ordinance will tone down the parties
that sometimes disrupt things in the neighborhood. I hear ordinances
of this type have been good in other cities," said President of
SEUNA Michael Stanton...
Bringing
down the house (party)...
An evening on the town with the Menomonie Police Department
Dunn County News - 5 Dec 2005
...MENOMONIE, WI - Five dollars is apparently the universal price of
admission in the world of college beer parties. Buying a cup would entitle
them to consume as much beer as they wanted for as long as they stayed
at the party, except that in the case of these girls, that would be
no beer at all. If, after being served themselves, they could determine
if there were other underage attendees drinking beer, the informants
would contact the officers and the party would be “interrupted.”
“Once we learn that there are other underage
drinkers in the house, we call the station for security,” explained
Officer Jones. “We talk to the shift commander who turns the entire
shift over to us. Sometimes we also get one or two UW-Stout officers
involved, as well.”
After relocating the “unmarked” squad car
several times over the course of the evening and hearing from the girls
that they were still looking, but not finding, another party, it was
just after 11 p.m. when the officer's cell phone warbled again.
“They found a large party near 14th Avenue and
Eighth Street,” he said. “They say it's the red house on
the corner and that there's a guy in a maroon cap and striped shirt
sitting just inside the back door collecting money. They've got one
or two kegs, and right now there are 30 to 40 people here, but we heard
someone just left to buy more beer, so they're anticipating a bigger
crowd.”...
Party
plan quiets down campus area
KY Kernel - 17 Oct 2005
...LEXINGTON, KY - Nearly four years after it became law, the Lexington
Area Party Plan continues to govern the conduct and consequences of
parties in the Lexington-Fayette County area.
The ordinance states that the plan is designed to decrease
the number of disturbance complaints from citizens and that it will
"benefit the health, safety, and welfare of the community."
Two alcohol-related deaths in the past two years have
sparked police crackdowns on parties and returned attention to the party
plan, but some students still feel slighted by the law...
Students
urged to `party small'
CITY, UNIVERSITY TAKE AIM AT BINGE DRINKING
Mercury News - 6 Oct 2005
...SAN JOSE, CA - A university-community effort to curb binge drinking
by students kicks off today in Santa Cruz, with a new initiative combining
education about alcohol with strict enforcement of existing laws.
``In the past, working to curb high-risk drinking focused
on dealing individually with students,'' said Jane Bogart, health promotion
and outreach coordinator at the University of California-Santa Cruz.
The new effort incorporates ``environmental strategies,''
such as DUI checks, party patrols, enforcement of laws that prohibit
alcohol sales to minors and using the city's strict new party ordinance,
which levies fines of up to $1,000 for loud or unruly parties and provides
for charging hosts for the costs of police response...
Party
patrol
Springfest enforcement could come down to arrests
Herald - 6 Oct 2005
...GRAND FORKS, ND - The Grand Forks Park District is arming itself
with an ordinance that would prevent - or at least control - Springfest.
The ordinance would require a permit for anyone wishing to drink beer
in a city park.
But what happens if a crowd of UND students and other
young adults show up in University Park on a Saturday in May with a
beer cooler in hand, but not a permit? What would be the consequences
if they defied the ordinance and held the annual bash anyway?...
Police
make 156 arrests in crackdown
Law enforcement agencies unite this semester to implement
College Area Party Plan
Daily Aztec - 6 Oct 2005
[Photo: A student vomits into a trash can during the crackdown.]
...SAN DIEGO, CA - The 2005 College Area Party Plan administered a substantial
message to underage drinkers and those breaking the rules of the road.
Last month, of the 198 total incidents that took place in a designated
weekend, police issued 63 minors in possession and 49 traffic citations,
according to data compiled from the event.
CAPP, which began in 2002, is a law enforcement operation
that intends to decrease community disruption in the San Diego State
area in order to increase the quality of life. The operation implements
its program at the beginning of each semester, with greater emphasis
at the onset of the school year...
Streaking,
furniture-tossing students worry neighbors
Journal - 6 oct 2005
...SOMERVILLE, MA - neighbors say underage drinking is only part of
the problem around the campus, where students reportedly have thrown
furniture and other items from homes on Curtis Avenue and College Avenue
in the last month, including a party at 209 College Ave. on Saturday.
"We've seen streakers; I witnessed them throwing
furniture over the porch," said Curtis Avenue resident Dorothy
DiMarzo. "When they are throwing them off, they are screaming at
the top of their lungs like maniacs - like they are going to kill someone."
DiMarzo said at one recent party on Curtis Avenue,
students pulled a mattress onto the street and tried to light it on
fire.
The university, she said, hasn't done a lot to help
quiet the kids.
"I really don't think they care about the neighborhood,"
DiMarzo said...
Loud
party lands 32 students in city jail
Friday night party attended by members of Sigma Pi and Zeta Tau Alpha
ended with day-long detainment; no charges filed
Towerlight - 6 Oct 2005
...TOWSON, MD - Thirty-two Towson students spent Saturday behind bars
at the Baltimore City Central Booking and Intake Center after being
detained for noise violations at a party on Lake Avenue on the Baltimore
city/county line.
After spending up to 22 hours in jail, all 32 persons
were released without being charged with a crime.
The party was held at a home where several members
of the Sigma Pi fraternity reside...
The house is located about one mile from campus.
Charlotte Walters lives nearby, and she said neighbors
have complained about the home for at least five years.
“This has been a blight on the neighborhood,”
she said...
U
parents drawn to class on alcohol risks
Star Tribune - 5 Oct 2005
...MINNEAPOLIS, MN - Alarmed by a surge in binge drinking among college
students, the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities on Tuesday announced
it is expanding an online class for parents meant to help curb high-risk
drinking by their children.
The course, "First-Year Seminar for Parents: Alcohol
Use on Campus," was first offered this year to parents of freshmen.
But officials said that recent events have prompted them to offer the
course to parents of all university students.
Those events include a spike in alcohol-related arrests
on the Twin Cities campus and the death last week of a Minnesota State
University, Moorhead student who drowned after drinking...
Officials
trying to stop off-campus drinking
Minnesota Public Radio - 5 Oct 2005
...MOORHEAD, MN - It's a simple-looking house in an average neighborhood.
Two stories with a deck out front. It could be a house in any residential
neighborhood in Moorhead. But this home has a reputation for being a
party house. Members of the Phi Sigma Kappa fraternity live here. It's
the last place Patrick Kycia was seen alive.
Members of the fraternity have declined requests to
talk about what happened to Kycia. The national office of the fraternity
issued a statement saying Kycia was not given alcohol or drugs by any
fraternity member. The fraternity also says it is cooperating with police
in the investigation of Kycia's death.
Eyewitnesses say Kycia attended a party at the frat
house. There are reports he was drinking heavily. Preliminary autopsy
results list Kycia as a drowning victim. Police suspect when the final
autopsy is released, it will reveal Kycia was intoxicated...
Local
laws still apply, even at Club Midd
Town Police Chief explains why the College does not insulate
students from local, state and federal laws
Micclebury Campus - 5 Oct 2005
...MIDDLEBURY, VT - Walking with an open container of beer, a Middlebury
College student was stopped on campus by a Middlebury Police Department
(MPD) officer last fall. The officer drove up and asked, "What's
in your hand?" to which the underage student, who wishes to remain
anonymous, answered the officer truthfully. According to the party involved,
the officer called Public Safety to confirm the student's identity,
administered a breath test, cited the student for violating an open
container ordinance and a Vermont law forbidding underage drinking and
then left the student in the custody of a friend.
"I always thought it was separate [the College
and the town]," the student said in a recent interview. "I
thought there was an implicit agreement with the police that we [the
College] handle this. You stay out of it."...
Binge
Drinking Entrenched in College Culture
There's No Magic Bullet to Stop Dangerous Alcohol Use on
Campus, But Many Say a Change in Attitude Is Needed
ABC News - 7 Sep 2005
...USA - Sept. 7, 2005 — It's been nearly a year since 19-year-old
Samantha Spady was found dead of alcohol poisoning in a fraternity house
at Colorado State University. Spady's blood alcohol content was 0.436
— five times the legal limit — and investigators say she
consumed up to 40 drinks the day before she died.
Spady's death was far from the only alcohol-related
campus tragedy last year, and as school starts up again this year, colleges
and universities across the country are bracing for more booze-fueled
chaos.
Each year, college drinking contributes to an estimated
1,400 student deaths, 500,000 injuries and 70,000 cases of sexual assault
or date rape, according to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and
Alcoholism, a part of the federal National Institutes of Health.
Government and universities are pouring millions of
dollars into programs to crack down on or curb campus "binge drinking,"
but there's been little change in students' behavior over the past decade...
Drinking
outside the box
When it comes to sensible alcohol consumption, a visiting U.S. journalist
ranks McGill University at the top of the class
National Post - 16 Aug 2005
...USA/CANADA - Despite its somewhat dramatic subtitle, Binge isn't
meant to frighten parents or blame college administrators -- it simply
seeks to enlighten readers on what exactly has changed since the 1960s.
"I never use the word 'shocked' in the book because
I really wasn't," says Seaman. "But I was surprised at the
intensity with which students drank. I drank in college and I still
drink, but in the four years I was at Hamilton [College in Clinton,
N.Y.], there was only one instance where someone had to go to the hospital,
and that was a big deal.
"Now it's routine. In one weekend at Hamilton,
seven students were hospitalized. Harvard had 44 go in two months. That's
a lot of people being taken to hospital for alcohol abuse."
But not all universities had the same problems. McGill
University, the one Canadian school Seaman visited because of its high
enrollment of American students, left the most positive impression on
him in terms of student drinking.
"If nothing else convinced meof the counterproductive
effects of American drinking laws on college life," he writes in
Binge, "my experience at McGill University in Montreal did."...
PSU
hears sobering statistics on alcohol
Patriot-News - 19 Mar 2005
...STATE COLLEGE, PA - (Drinking) Despite Penn State University's efforts
to combat binge drinking in the past nine years, a university official
calls it a deepening problem.
"Even though we are putting all our resources
and energies into this, we're not seeing this go down," said Vicky
Triponey, vice president for student affairs...
Beer
company questions keg tracking plan
Attorney for Anheuser-Busch calls proposed Story County
ordinance a 'feel good' measure
Tribune - 19 Mar 2005
...AMES, IA - (Drinking) Iowa State University students aren't the only
ones questioning Story County's proposed keg ordinance.
Des Moines Attorney James Carney, who represents Anheuser-Busch in Iowa,
sent a letter to Story County Attorney Stephen Holmes in early March
calling the county's ordinance a "feel good" proposal...
Rowdy
students get rehab, neighbors get peace
TownOlnline - 18 Mar 2005
...ALLSTOM-BRIGHTOM, MA - (Drinking) Residents complained and the Brighton
court system responded.
After an unusually high rate of rowdy college parties on neighborhood
streets this school year, a Brighton judge held a Boston University
student and a recent BU graduate responsible for a loud Allston party
busted by police at an underground frat house last year....
College
towns see underage drinking rise
Denver Post - 24 Sep 2004
...COLORADO - (Drinking) Having a law that makes the alcohol use of
many college students illegal may have contributed to the binge-drinking
problem, Beckner said.
"Is it better to have our kids ... at a party
where they're unsupervised, drinking to excess, or drinking in a licensed
establishment that has rules?" he asked...
State's
schools take a look at drinking problems
Tribune-Review - 16 Sep 2004
...PITTSBURGH, PA - (Drinking) Bloomsburg has a distinction IUP and
other colleges in Pennsylvania want no part of. It's a staggering figure
that has caused Bloomsburg police Chief Leo Sokoloski to refer soberly
to the borough where he's worked for 18 years
as the "tragedy capital."...
Partying
comes with a price
Lansing State Journal - 11 Jan 2004
...EAST LANSING, MI - Partying in private - and often old - homes means
student drinking is unregulated and unsupervised. And, unlike bars,
homes have no laws limiting capacity or trained bartenders to monitor
drinking.
Such conditions have played a role in student deaths
here and in other college towns...
Patrols
credited with taming frat parties
Seattle Post-Intellegencer - 9 Jan 2003
...SEATTLE, WA - (Drinking) Raucous parties are on the wane in the University
of Washington's northern neighborhood, where dozens of fraternities
and sororities are concentrated, thanks to special police patrols, officials
said yesterday. The success at keeping the peace has helped persuade
the university to extend the program through the end of the school year...
Off-campus
parties draw interest among researchers
Purdue Exponent - 12 Dec 2003
...WEST LAFAYETTE, IN - (Drinking) After alcohol-fueled riots at Michigan
State in spring 2003, administrators there decided to "embark on
an exploratory project to learn more about off-campus parties,"
according to Bridget Williams Golden, Purdue assistant dean of students...
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