Diamondback Online - The University of Maryland's Independent Daily Student Newspaper

Issue date: 10/31/08 Section: News

Media Credit: Allison Akers

In an attempt to do away with the taboo associated with talking about alcohol, the university encouraged a heated discussion yesterday about alcohol-related issues, including lowering the drinking age and the prevalence of drinking among college students.

In a six-hour Alcohol Summit held in the Colony Ballroom at the Stamp Student Union yesterday, attendees were encouraged to think critically about college students' relationship with alcohol and what should be done to change it. The summit was formed in response to University President Dan Mote's and University System of Maryland Chancellor Brit Kirwan's decision to sign the Amethyst Initiative - a petition that urges university administrators to discuss on-campus binge drinking and the effectiveness of the legal drinking age.

But according to the College Life Study conducted by the Center for Substance Abuse Research, an on-campus research organization that focuses on alcohol behavior among college students, students' drinking behaviors are largely defined by the time students are 18 - before they come to college.

"From what we've seen, there's not a lot of evidence that shows that students go from not drinking at all straight to binge drinking all the time," CESAR Director Eric Wish said. "[Drinking] patterns were all defined at entry to college."

The study also shows the frequency of students' alcohol consumption increases over time, as does the number of students drinking - 17 percent of students surveyed did not drink upon entry to college while only 5 percent remained non-drinkers by graduation, a statistic critics say can be chalked up to the social importance college students associate with alcohol.

"There is nothing wrong with education, but we need to change the campus environment," said James Fell, a senior program director at Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation. "The idea that lowering the drinking age will fix the problem is ridiculous. ... Students lose their inhibitions under the influence. I don't see how they could be responsible drinkers if the drinking age was any lower."

Fell suggested the best way to cut back on dangerous, alcohol-induced behavior among minors is through tougher underage drinking laws and stricter enforcement.

"People say you shouldn't [drink] but then give no permission to enforce it," Fell said. "[Underage drinking] is socially unacceptable; it's not a rite of passage."

Continued...

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