Alcohol policy still under scrutiny

Alcohol use on college campuses is under national scrutiny again since the Tuesday release of a study that reports 1,400 alcohol-related deaths on college campuses each year. The report issued by the Harvard School of Public Health recommends campuses and communities collaborate to curb underage drinking -- something IU is already working to achieve. \nThe Campus-Community Commission on Alcohol will meet at 1:30 p.m. Friday at the Virgil DeVault Alumni Center. The committee, consisting of IU staff and faculty, students and members of the Bloomington community, will discuss the committee's current set of proposals aimed at deterring alcohol abuse by IU students. \n"The group is working to come up with an 'environmental' strategy to quell the problem," said Dee Owens, director of the IU Alcohol and Drug Information Center.\nAmong the statistics cited by the Harvard study are that two in every five college students engage in binge drinking. For men, binge drinking is defined as five or more drinks in a row. For women, it is defined as four or more drinks in a row. \nOwens is not certain that the statistics are entirely accurate, however. She thinks binge drinking is a bigger problem than the study indicates.\n"Researchers tend to err on the side of being more conservative," Owens said. "I think we've got a problem on our hands here. This is not why we send students to college."\nThe Campus-Community Commission was established three years ago and its original set of proposals was drafted in May 2000. After the commission's subcommittees provided feedback, the proposals were revised and re-released in May 2001. Dean of Students Richard McKaig said Friday's meeting will be used for updating and refining the current set of proposals.\n"They're supposed to have reports from subcommittees. (The committee) will make recommendations for implementation and suggestions for how those recommendations ought to be implemented," McKaig said.\nInterfraternity Council President Colin Godecke is pleased with the progress that his organization has made in meeting many of the proposals.\n"I think that we're ahead of some other organizations in terms of meeting the recommendations," Godecke said.\nChapters of the IFC have made progress in several areas, such as moving events to third-party vendors and incorporating alcohol training into new member education programs. Godecke said the IFC will also be listening to further suggestions from the committee.\n"We have still been talking about changes that may need to be made to change the alcohol culture on campus," Godecke said.\nGodecke said he is also aware of the spotlight on fraternities with Little 500 coming up next week. As is the normal weekend routine, an IU employee will be patrolling to look for alcohol at parties. \nIn addition, the IFC will attempt to police itself by having teams of IFC officials patrolling before and after the men's and women's races. \nAccording to the Harvard study, decreasing attendance at fraternity parties has been a national trend. However, that has led to other concerns on campuses across the country.\n"At the same time that attendance at fraternity or sorority parties is decreasing, we noted an increasing trend toward attendance and heavy drinking at off-campus parties," the report stated.\nMcKaig said the commission has primarily focused on campus issues up to this point. However, he believes that the City of Bloomington has helped by creating rules like the Quiet Nights initiative, in which fines are levied for noise pollution violations in Bloomington neighborhoods.\n"Quiet nights helps reduce some of the most loud party scenes," McKaig said.\nMcKaig also said the city will be starting a new program that notifies landlords when their tenants have been cited with a Quiet Nights violation.\nGodecke said the committee has been very open-minded in listening to student concerns.\n"They have been great about listening to us," Godecke said. "We have the same goals as they do, and we look forward to working with them in the future to achieve those goals."\nOwens pointed out that the commission is not trying to prevent students from having a good time.\n"I don't know anyone who is trying to stop the drinking," Owens said. "Most adults have a few beers now and then. Instead, what we want to do is not have people get hurt and learn to do this drinking thing responsibly, like adults"