Guest Column: U of I Working to Dilute Drinking Culture
9/5/2008
The Des Moines Register
By President Sally Mason, University of Iowa
Over the past 20 years, a highly destructive drinking culture has developed at college campuses across the country, including the University of Iowa.
Excessive drinking by students, including underage students, is closely connected with campus crimes such as property destruction and sexual assault. For many students who fall into the drinking culture, alcohol consumption becomes a major barrier to learning and academic achievement.
A group of college presidents recently called for a national debate about the effectiveness of the minimum legal drinking age of 21. Unfortunately, there is no quick fix. We must explore every avenue to change the attitudes and behaviors of our students regarding alcohol consumption. Here is what we are doing at the University of Iowa:
- We implemented "AlcoholEdu" in fall 2006, requiring all incoming freshmen to complete the course. "AlcoholEdu" aims to prevent or reduce alcohol-related problems among our students, while providing us with a statistically accurate description of our students' alcohol-related attitudes, experiences, behaviors and health-education needs
- We have implemented a new plan to increase the number of Friday classes in an effort to reduce drinking on Thursday nights. Initial response to this effort has been very encouraging - an increase of more than 3,000 classroom seats on Fridays.
- We are expanding the application of our Code of Student Conduct to include some off-campus violations, and will increase the sanction for "two-strike" policy violations (OWI, public intoxication and possession of controlled substance). Students found guilty of a second violation will be suspended for one year, up from the previous one-semester suspension.
- We are arranging late-night social activities so students have an alternative to the bar scene. During home football games, an alcohol-free tailgate lot is available.
- Our residence halls are substance free. Two years ago, we implemented monetary fines for violations of residence-hall rules prohibiting alcohol possession. The result has been significant: Violations dropped from 825 in 2005-06 to 517 in 2007-08, a reduction of 35 percent.
- We notify parents of residence-hall students who violate the alcohol policy or engage in self-destructive behavior. During the 2006-07 academic year, 702 letters were sent to parents. Eighty-nine of those letters detailed conduct that raised substantial health and safety concerns. Excessive alcohol consumption was involved in 82 of those 89 cases.
- We will continue to work with the Stepping Up Coalition, which includes city and county officials, to research ordinances to be introduced to the City Council for reducing the harmful effects of excessive drinking. Iowa now has a statewide keg-registration law, and Iowa City has for many years had a nuisance ordinance to help shut down house parties. We think that further progress can be made by enforcing the occupancy limits in drinking establishments and charging bar owners, instead of bartenders and servers, when underage people are caught with alcoholic drinks on their premises.
I am hopeful that these new initiatives will reduce the harmful effects of excessive drinking on our campus. But we need help. You can help us by setting a good example for your children and by making responsible, legal alcohol consumption a regular topic of discussion with them. Far too many of our students arrive on our campus with a habit of excessive drinking. According to a recent study, Iowa ranked seventh in the nation in the amount of alcohol consumed by youth age 12 to 20.
Given our culture, change may be slow and difficult, but our commitment is enduring. Working together, I am confident that we can make progress on this vital issue.