Thursday, April 30, 2009
Students at the University of Kansas drink more — and more dangerously — than the national average for college students. Wednesday’s Kansan story, “Excessive and accepted,” reported that KU students were almost twice as likely to binge drink compared with students at 117 other universities. In the same survey, 47 percent of KU students admitted to drinking and driving within the past 30 days, double the national average of 23 percent.
These numbers indicate a lack of personal accountability among KU students. They also throw into sharp relief the ineffectiveness of the University’s alcohol policies in dealing with the scope of students’ alcohol consumption.
To deal effectively with excessive drinking, the University should offer one centralized resource for students seeking help for alcohol-related issues. Under the current system, information about the University’s alcohol policy and treatment options for alcohol dependency is scattered across many different Web sites. One integrated resource for students would help boost the University system’s efficiency.
Also, according to the current policy, students who violate drinking rules in student housing are subjected to punishments that have become more of a joke than a learning experience. They involve online courses, journaling and, after three violations, meeting with a judicial board. Instead of this weak strategy, the University should implement a policy incorporating city law and University regulations. This system would be similar to that employed at the University of Nebraska, where underage students caught drinking on campus are ticketed for a “Minor In Possession” in addition to punishments under university sanctions.
After three violations, students at Nebraska must have a psychological evaluation focusing on substance abuse. This system establishes tighter controls on underage and on-campus drinking and would help prevent students with an alcohol problem from falling through the cracks.
The University of Kansas could also learn from the University of Oklahoma, which implemented a more stringent alcohol policy following the 2004 death of a freshman from alcohol poisoning. The Underage Drinking Enforcement Training Center honored Oklahoma nationally in 2006 for its improved alcohol policy.
Now, nearly two months after the death of KU freshman Jason Wren from alcohol poisoning, the University has yet to set clear goals to strengthen its own alcohol policy.
Marlesa Roney, vice provost for student success, said Wren’s death has led University officials to re-evaluate the school’s parental notification policy and a new alcohol education program, AlcoholEdu, for incoming freshmen. But problems with the alcohol policy remain.
The University administration should centralize its resources for alcohol education and implement stricter rules, like those at other Big 12 schools, to improve Kansas’ alcohol policy. These are important first steps in overhauling the University’s weak system and creating a more supportive policy for students.
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Comments
Editorial: KU needs stronger policies on alcohol
I am absolutely sure thats what we need (sarcasm). Alcoholism is so severely corrupt in Lawrence only and only Ku should enforce stricter policy. Cause we all know that the prohibition ultimately eliminated alcoholism in America. Of course as the son of an alum... I have to disagree. When my father went to KU the drinking age was 18. Oddly enough the policies at ku have grown stricter but the drinking and driving rate has grown. The alcohol abuse rate has grown. So lets go ahead and make stricter policies and repeat the mistakes of our own government or maybe we should just start prohibition over again. Or perhaps we shouldn't be sheep to the slaughter and think for ourselves. Maybe we should be responsible for our own well being. Alcoholism isn't Ku's responsibility, education is. Maybe people should show a little responsibility and blame themselves instead of dorms' Ku' and greek life's.
Editorial: KU needs stronger policies on alcohol
I feel sorry for you college kids today. When I went to KU from 80-85 we could drink 3.2 beer at 18, even on campus. If we could die at 18 in the military why could we not drink at 18? I had Keg parties in my room at Oliver Hall and Matt our RA would join us. (He even chipped in) You could have beer in your dorm fridge and grab a brew at the Union or walk down to the Hawk, The Wheel, The Crossing, or Johnny's and have a 3.2 brew too.
At the start of the school year KU (yes the University) would throw "Megga-Keggers" in front of Allen Field House and supply 200 kegs of free beer, hire bands and give a big fat welcome to all the students. Can you imagine that happening in todays nanny state with the radical anti-drinking campaigns dominating policy?
All in all 3.2 brew at 18 was a good policy. It gave those who wanted to drink and were going to drink anyway a gradual adjustment to the drug instead of swigging half a liter of vodka and acting like a fool at one's first big college party. It's almost impossible to get alcohol poisoning from 3.2 beer but a lot of kids die from it by drinking the hard stuff. And sure we wanted the hard stuff and sometimes got it but with the easy, legal option of buying weak beer, most times it wasn't worth the hassle getting the hard stuff. Yea those were the days lol, legal weak beer and $458 tuition.
Of course the Feds came along in the mid 80's and told Kansas and other states if they didn't change the drinking age to 21 they would withhold matching highway funds so the states caved in one by one. A pity. Now you can't drink anything and they call your mommy if you get caught.
Right now I live in Rio de Janeiro Brazil where the legal drinking age is 18 but you can drink even younger but you know what? There are hardly any drunks here compared to the USA. College students here go out and have a few beers but rarely get very drunk. Maybe because drinking is not so taboo. Maybe because they've been allowed to drink an occasional beer or a little vino at 16 in front of their parents. Maybe because they've had access to it for so long it's not such a big deal. Maybe because people who are treated like adults learn to act like adults...
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