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The
majority of students don't drink excessively,
but for too long standards of behavior have been set by those who do. Many
students no longer want to endure the obnoxious side effects of excessive
and destructive drinking as part of the college experience. In growing
numbers, they're rejecting heavy drinking as a "necessary" rite
of passage, and questioning the corrosive and degrading influence of binge
drinking on the quality of college life.
Having come to college to get an education AND have a good time, more and more students are asking: How fun is drunken behavior that interferes with other students' sleep, study, and socializing? How about missed and flunked classes, unplanned and unprotected sexual activity, vandalism and damaged property? Emergency room admissions, alcohol poisoning, and needless injury and death?
Most colleges and universities have alcohol and other substance abuse prevention policies and programs, including information and awareness campaigns about high-risk drinking and help for those with drinking problems. But students have too often been the passive subjects and recipients of such efforts, rather than active players in this issue of key importance to the quality of the college experience.
Students can and should play a much more central leadership role in examining the impact of alcohol use and abuse on the quality of campus life, and in shaping clear, fair, effective alcohol policies and practices that reflect the community's values and priorities. On many campuses, they are getting more active in shaping the alcohol environment. There's a lot at stake:
- More of the nation's undergraduates will ultimately die from alcohol-related causes than will go on to get MAs and PhDs combined;
- Nationwide, each year college students spend $5.5 billion on alcohol, more than we spend on books, soft drinks, tea, coffee, milk, and juice combined.
- 95% of violent crime and 80% of all vandalism on campus is alcohol-related, and according to some studies, alcohol is implicated in 90% of all reported rapes.
Whether and how much to drink may be an individual choice. But the spill-over effects of abusive drinking on the quality of life for the campus community is everyone's problem. Students who are tired of putting up with abusive drinking and its obnoxious side effects in campus life don't have to suffer in silence. They can get active in re-defining a college social life that doesn't revolve around alcohol and the pressure on students to drink.
From ABC article: Going to Extremes
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obnoxious side effects of excessive and destructive drinking |
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