Guest opinion: Help change the U of I's drinking culture

11/12/2009

Des Moines Register

By Wallace D. Loh, Executive Vice President and Provost, and Tom Rocklin, Interim Vice President for Student Services, University of Iowa

University of Iowa President Sally Mason charged us last year to mobilize a campus-wide effort - in collaboration with community members - to change the culture of high-risk drinking. The goal is to reduce harm to the safety, health and academic success of students.

We want to provide an update and issue a call for involvement - for more students, faculty and staff to be involved in changing the drinking culture. At stake is the future of our students. Their future ought not be shortened or impaired by the terrible personal and academic consequences of high-risk drinking. 

Excessive consumption has become a rite of passage in the high school and college years. It is heavily influenced by peer pressure. About half of our students arrive at the U of I with habits of excessive drinking. Today, the proportion of our students who engage in high-risk drinking is much greater than the national collegiate average. Blood-alcohol concentration of students referred for substance-abuse treatment is at an all-time high.

Our students report incidents of physical injury, unwanted or unsafe sexual experiences, property damage, impaired memory of their actions and diminished academic performance as effects of high-risk drinking. Many students who fail to return after their freshman year have alcohol-related academic problems.

High-risk drinking is everybody's problem. Promoting alcohol safety is everybody's responsibility. It's the responsibility of students, their parents, faculty, staff, administrators, bar owners and community residents.

So what can we do? Any strategy for reducing out-of-control consumption requires reducing the demand for and the supply of alcohol.

The university has begun actions to reduce demand. In addition to required online alcohol training, we're offering optional alcohol safety classes to at-risk students. We want to expand them to all freshmen, because education and counseling do change drinking habits. We've increased the number of Friday classes. We're funding alcohol-free social activities. We're communicating with parents regularly, because parents are still the most importance influence in students' lives.

We also administer sanctions. We suspend students and allow readmission only under strict conditions. With advice of counsel, we're revising our policies to extend university jurisdiction over student misconduct that occurs off-campus. However, we don't believe in a punitive approach focused primarily on sanctions in order to change the larger culture. It's ineffective and impractical. There is no one solution to this public health challenge. Early intervention, treatment, education, academic expectations, accountability and the involvement of parents and the entire university community are all essential to changing behavior and increasing alcohol safety.

The University of Iowa Police Department (UIPD) has expanded police patrols on weekend nights to increase public safety. We've started bystander training to teach appropriate intervention skills in high-risk situations. The majority of the violations charged by UIPD - public intoxication, disorderly conduct, trespass, assaults - are filed against non-students. University students are not the only ones associated with the culture and consequences of high-risk drinking. This is why alcohol safety must also involve the larger community.

The Iowa City mayor and City Council members are doing their part to reduce the supply of alcohol. They've changed zoning laws to limit the number of alcohol outlets downtown. They've pursued non-renewal of liquor licenses of bars with excessive underage drinking violations. We salute them for their leadership.

We formed a town/gown "Partnership for Alcohol Safety" (PAS) co-chaired by the mayor and the provost (www.alcoholpartnership.org). It includes students and bar owners as well as faculty, staff and community leaders. The emphasis is on communication and collaboration among all stakeholders. PAS is considering ways to diversify downtown businesses; to reduce access to alcohol by underage patrons; to promote the legal and responsible consumption of alcohol, including at Hawkeye tailgating; and to set benchmarks for accountability and success. PAS makes recommendations to the university and the city.

The culture of high-risk drinking evolved over the course of decades. Changing culture and changing behavior will take time. It will take resolve. It will take resources. Our students deserve an education - and Iowa City residents expect a community - safe from the harms of high-risk drinking.

We invite your involvement and ideas.