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January 30, 2006
USA TODAY's front-page story on risks to college students, which addresses drinking, is a valuable contribution to the discourse on alcohol abuse.
The article correctly points out that the problem is a cultural or population-level problem, not limited to any region, type of college or group of students ("First year in college is the riskiest," Special report, News, Wednesday).
Harvard School of Public Health studies show that 44% of all college students binge drink, defined as five drinks at a sitting for men and four for women.
A very comprehensive study by Outside The Classroom of Needham, Mass., demonstrated that college students begin in their first semester to drink heavily, doubling the number of binge drinkers in the first semester and more than halving the number who are abstainers. During this first semester, many college students are in dormitories and are not members of fraternities or sororities.
While the Harvard study showed that fraternity and sorority members are heavier drinkers, members of these organizations constitute fewer than 10% of all college students.
Nonetheless, leaders of the Greek-letter organizations are committed to changing this culture of high-risk drinking not only with our individual programming but also by working cooperatively with college administrations. We have formed the Genesis Group, which now includes 48 fraternities and sororities and approximately 80% of all Greek-letter members, to further this cooperation.
We have a long way to go. We acknowledge that we are part of the problem, and we commit to being part of the solution.
Norval Stephens
Co-chair, Genesis Group
Chairman, Delta Tau Delta
Educational Foundation
Barrington, Ill.
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