Colleges campaign against drinking

Aiming to stigmatize alcohol abuse
By Michael Dougan, OF THE EXAMINER STAFF
Friday, September 10, 1999

CALIFORNIA -- It's a brew that gets straight to the point: Binge Beer

And it's "hitting college campuses this fall," according to the full-page advertisement running in more than 100 newspapers Friday around the country, including San Francisco.

"At Binge, we understand that sometimes you just need five or six drinks the night before that big test," the ad declares. "Who says falling off a balcony is such a bad thing? And what's an occasional riot? Or even a little assault between friends?"

Binge Beer isn't real and the ad, with its amusing sarcasm, was crafted to convey a serious message, according to the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges, its sponsor.

The ad was signed at the bottom by the presidents of 113 colleges and universities, including Robert Berdahl of UC-Berkeley.

The Core Institute, an organization that surveys college drinking habits, reports that the average students spends about $900 a year on booze, $450 on books. Core says nearly one-third of students surveyed confessed to having missed at least one class because of alcohol or drug use.

So what else is new?

Cathy Kodama, a health educator at UC-Berkeley, said student drinking - a tradition as old as education itself - is no longer as acceptable as it was when today's oldsters attended college.

"This is something we've lived with and struggled with. I've been doing alcohol education on this campus for almost 20 years now," said Kodama. "The campuses continue to be really concerned about the consequences. Many of them are severe."

While statistics on campus alcohol abuse are hard to come by, Kodama said a variety of programs in recent years, typified by the big ad in Friday's newspapers, have made excessive drinking socially uncool on campus. "I think it's the same thing that happened in terms of smoking," she said.

Jason Kintner and his brothers at Delta Upsilon fraternity near the Berkeley campus have felt the winds of change, said the 23-year-old chemistry senior.

"We're getting pressure from a lot of different areas - from our international group, from the university, from our alumni," he said.

In response, Kintner said, the fraternity has created a member education committee to present programs on alcohol abuse, sexual responsibility and similar topics.

"You want to keep the tradition and keep everybody safe too," he said. "We're trying to find a good balance."

Kodama said fraternities and sororities have initiated a campus-wide program on the topic. "Their long-term vision is to change both the reality and the image of the Greek system in terms of alcohol," she said.

At the same time, added Kodama, many stereotypes about students and liquor consumption aren't true.

"Not everyone on campus drinks," she said. "Most students don't binge drink. It's really a specific minority."