Changing drinking culture must be a priority

A few weekends ago my roommate decided to go to the frat houses.

As she waited to be let in, she saw little groups of dejected freshman leaving in threes and fours.

They could not get in.

I have yet to find a halfway decent report of this new rule, but her story — and others I have heard in the past few weeks — all say the same thing.

Freshmen are not allowed into frat parties anymore.

I know that I cannot speak for every house, so at this point it’s more of a crapshoot as to who will let you in and who won’t.

But if you are a new student at IU, be warned. In light of recent tragedies, the houses are taking more precautions.

This, along with Tuesday’s front page article about a junior attending tailgate, has led me to really question how effective IU’s alcohol policies really are.

There seems to be an equal amount of drinkers to non-drinkers on campus, but dangerous binge drinking does affect a substantial percentage of the student population.

In America, 599,000 students will sustain an alcohol related injury, and 1,825 college students will die from alcohol related injuries.

While fraternities are taking steps forward within their own communities, it seems even more dangerous to push the freshmen toward house parties.

What’s even more surprising is that the frats even had to take this step.

Let’s be honest. When a frat is doing more to promote safe drinking than campus health organizations, you know you’ve got a problem.

And the story that ran on Tuesday, while not entirely commonplace, is certainly relatable.

No matter who we are, we all have our own “drunk Amanda.”

For the most part, it seems that the average IU student has got alcohol figured out.

He or she knows when to stop, how to stop and what to do if someone can’t hold up.

However, there is a portion of the student body that is really struggling.

I’ve heard friends and roommates say time and again, “It’s not alcoholism until after college.”

I hate to be a square, but it’s alcoholism now.

While I’m sure parents and faculty are all up in arms about the drinking problems on campus, I highly doubt we’ll see Tuesday’s front generate real change.

It seems that changing IU’s drinking culture just isn’t a top priority, especially for our administration.

There’s a lot of hot air and preaching — and then surprise when something bad happens.

It’s time for IU to really step up.

The problems of drinking culture need to be made more important, and it would benefit us to discuss these issues in University-sponsored classes, groups and seminars.

Otherwise, we’re going to lose our alcoholic and untreated students when it could so easily be avoided.

­— ewenning@indiana.edu
Follow columnist Emma Wenninger on Twitter @EmmaWenninger.