Curbing alcohol abuse on campus

April 17, 2005

This article was published in the Gainesville Sun on April 17.

By: Bernie Machen
Bernie Machen is president of the University of Florida.

In my 15 months as president of the University of Florida, my hardest days have been those when I’ve learned of a student’s death or serious injury.

All too often, these tragedies didn’t have to happen, because they are tied to the most severe problem facing college campuses today: alcohol abuse.

We are aggressively addressing this problem, but we can and should do more. We must shape a long-term, sustained, anti-alcohol-abuse campaign, one that draws on the participation and strengths of the entire Gainesville community.

The facts are disturbing.

Alcohol was a factor in 80 percent of sexual assaults on UF students last year. Ninety-seven percent of criminal cases handled by UF Student Legal Services were alcohol related.

Most heartbreaking, in the past 15 months, alcohol was a contributing factor in the deaths of five students.

Many people view drinking in college as an inevitable rite of passage. Realistically speaking, alcohol will probably always be part of the college culture.

That said, the evidence is overwhelming that alcohol abuse is a growing pathology not just at UF in Gainesville, but at most colleges and within most college communities.

The violence is tragic, but it is far from the only negative impact of excessive drinking. The long-term medical consequences, including serious damage to the liver, pancreas and brain, can be devastating. That’s also true for social consequence like diminished work productivity and damage to family life and cohesiveness.

To be sure, not all college students or UF students have a problem. In fact, almost a third of UF students report that they don’t drink at all. Many students aged 21 or older, meanwhile, drink reasonably and responsibly.

But alcohol abuse is a major issue among two groups: underage students and excessive drinkers, or those who consume more than five drinks in a row.

A recent survey found that more than 72 percent of underage students at UF said they consumed alcohol in the last 30 days. Meanwhile, more than half our students admitted they have drunk excessively at some point in their college careers.

The scale of the problem may seem overwhelming, but I believe we can change the college culture of high-risk drinking.

Let me be clear: While some universities have become dry campuses, I am not advocating such a move here. Rather, I’d like to see UF follow the examples of other university communities that successfully combated alcohol abuse. These communities found at least two strategies seemed to work well.

First, a diversity of leaders came together to address and attack the causes of excessive drinking. These leaders also found they could inhibit high risk behavior and its consequences by changing the environment in which drinking takes place.

Already at the University of Florida, we’ve taken steps to create a campus that discourages excessive drinking. We have programs tailored to counteract individual overdrinking as well as campus-level efforts.

For example, because we know that the first few weeks of college life are critical to forming healthy habits, we target new students with educational campaigns to counter erroneous expectations and perceptions about alcohol.

We also carefully monitor events likely to promote excessive drinking, such as football games. Gone are the days, for example, of the “in-and-out” option at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium.

We’ve also begun a comprehensive review of all our alcohol related policies -- a review that is already producing results.

Last Friday, for example, the university suspended a syndicated radio program offered by our local commercial radio station, Rock 104, on grounds it sanctioned unhealthy drinking.

Last week, UF also became the first major, public university in Florida and the Southeastern Conference to join the national Campaign for Alcohol-Free Sports TV.

We’ve seen some successes with our efforts and we’ll see more, but we need help. Research conducted in other college communities shows that the effectiveness of anti-alcohol-abuse campaigns on campus depends, to some degree, on conditions off campus.

Relevant issues include, for example, the number of free and reduced-price drink specials offered by local bars. It’s also important that servers are well trained, and that law enforcement has the resources to enforce state and local regulations, including those preventing access to alcohol by underage drinkers.

We recently formed the Community Alcohol Coalition, a group whose members include students, faculty, administrators, law enforcement officers and health experts. The coalition is a great first step toward a more unified approach to dealing with excessive drinking.

A final point: While I commend the Gainesville City Commission for focusing on the abuse issue, the proposal to extend bar closing by one hour is a bad one, and commissioners should reject it.

This proposal’s rationale seems to be that patrons will have an hour to sober up between their last drink and when they leave. Some proponents also say patrons will drift out over the last hour, thereby staggering their departures.

But I believe every additional hour a bar remains open is another hour for students to drink, even if they simply nurse the drinks they bought at last call.

In my view, that’s an hour we can do without.