Lieberman kisses off '04 college vote
Campus drinking decried
Senate urged to take action
By MELISSA B. ROBINSON, Associated Press
First published: Thursday, May 16, 2002
WASHINGTON -- Sen. Joseph Lieberman, a potential presidential candidate in 2004, is expanding his social agenda, charging Wednesday that colleges and universities aren't doing enough to combat excessive student drinking.
Special report
Read Last Call, an in-depth look at the problem of underage drinking.
Too many schools ``are denying a problem even exists,'' said Lieberman, D-Conn., who previously has criticized the entertainment industry for peddling sex and violence to children.
Schools should implement tougher alcohol policies and work more closely with communities and police to enforce minimum drinking age laws, Lieberman said. They should also increase enforcement at campus events where drinking is promoted and inform incoming students and their parents about alcohol policies and penalties, Lieberman said at a hearing of the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee, which he chairs.
Last month, a federally appointed task force released a report that found 1,400 college students are killed each year in alcohol-related accidents and that drinking by college students contributes to 500,000 injuries and 70,000 cases of sexual assault or rape.
``Universities must move out of their denial of the extent of these problems on their campuses,'' said Daniel P. Reardon of Washington, whose 19-year-old son, Daniel, died of acute alcohol poisoning in February after a fraternity party at the University of Maryland.
"I am not an expert on these issues,'' said Reardon. "I am only an expert on the anguish of sleeping on the floor of an intensive care unit for six days while my son lay dying.''
"Parents do not send their children to college to die,'' Reardon told the committee.
Yet 1,400 college students ages 18 to 24 die each year from alcohol-related injuries, including car crashes, according to a federal report released last month by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, part of the Department of Health and Human Services.
Terry Hartle, senior vice president of the American Council on Education, said schools are increasingly offering alcohol-free parties and alcohol-free dormitories and hosting informational sessions on alcohol use for incoming students.
However, the success of such programs is limited, he said, partly because students tend to resist restrictions on their freedom. It also can be difficult, Hartle said, to get community and business leaders, alumni and other groups involved in comprehensive anti-alcohol initiatives.
``That takes a lot of time, it takes a lot of money, it takes a lot of energy, and you need a community-wide motivation to do it,'' said Hartle, whose organization represents roughly half the nation's colleges and universities.
Lieberman lauded a program launched by the California State University system following the alcohol-induced death of 18-year-old Adrian Heideman on the Chico campus in October 2000.
The board of trustees adopted an alcohol-use policy and gave each campus $25,000, to be matched locally, to set up councils that work with local businesses and police to enforce existing laws; curtail promotions, such as `happy hours,' that encourage binge drinking; and decrease the use of alcohol in the promotion of business and community events.
|