Univ. Presidents thoughts on combating alcohol use...

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From the Ohio University Post. Some interesting stuff on alcohol, without mentioning GLO's...

College presidents vow to curb drinking

by Jennifer Lash
Scripps Howard Foundation Wire



Students buy more booze than books

The average college student on a typical campus spends more money annually on alcohol - $466 - than on books, soda, coffee, juice and milk combined, according to the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence Web site.

While college students are busy drinking an estimated 4 billion cans of beer each year, 42 Ohio college and university presidents pledged their support of the Ohio College Initiative to Reduce High Risk Drinking in November.

"It is very difficult to combat peer pressure among young people," said Ohio University President Robert Glidden, chair of the Ohio College Initiative. "Obviously there is no easy answer. Someone comes up with a good idea, and then it is good to share it among universities."

Glidden said he hates to take a get-tough attitude with students.

"Preaching to people doesn't really do it," Glidden said. "You have to prevail on their good sense and their wanting to be responsible and to not make fools of themselves."

Ohio Parents for Drug Free Youth, a non-profit organization, started the statewide initiative in 1996 with 19 colleges.

The U.S. Department of Education's Higher Education Center for Alcohol and Other Drug Prevention is working with 45 states to develop similar initiatives, said Jerry Anderson, the center's statewide initiatives coordinator.

"Ohio is considered to be the pioneer of that type of statewide initiative," Anderson said.

The center has a list of five strategies that many schools, including OU, look at when starting programs: offering alcohol-free social and recreational options, convincing students they don't have to be drunk to have fun, limiting alcohol availability, restricting marketing and promotion of alcohol and increasing enforcement.

Holly Zweizig, assistant director of Ohio Parents for Drug Free Youth, said a case study of universities in Ohio found that strong leaders were key.

"There are a lot of variables that play into high-risk drinking on a campus, and their support for environmental changes really does make a difference," Zweizig said. "The problem is very individual to each campus and community, which is part of the difficulty in developing a one-size-fits-all approach to this issue."

Anderson said the convergence of college presidents is significant and "says loud and clear this isn't a problem that's just on my campus; it's a public health concern."

Alcohol use on college campuses is a problem all over the country, not just at Ohio, Glidden said. He said factors other than the number of bars on Court Street near the campus or events such as the university's rowdy Halloween weekend are responsible for alcohol-related problems.

In Oxford, Ohio, home to Miami University, the city council passed a nuisance party ordinance that says police may break up "a party or social gathering that is or becomes a nuisance party" and force everyone to leave.

Thayer Talbott, administrative assistant to the police chief, said six nuisance party citations have been issued since March. She said the department thinks the law has been effective.

Glidden said he is working with Mayor Ric Abel to form a university-community task force. But he said something similar to the Oxford ordinance is needed because "you can't react with a riot squad every time a group gathers in the street."

Any thoughts?