COLLEGE - Dangerous Drinking

My answer.... it's been a tradition for decades, and only now has the side effects become a headline issue.  Getting wild and drunk was happening when I was in high school (I'm 69 now).

This is a matter of culture, college culture.  Also, my first 4yrs (of 22) in the U.S. Navy, getting drunk and partying was the norm.

"Why haven’t efforts worked to stop dangerous drinking at college?" PBS NewsHour 12/12/2014

Excerpt

JUDY WOODRUFF (NewsHour):  There’s a growing recognition about the prevalence of sexual assault on college campuses, and it seems new headlines each week, including the high-profile investigations currently under way at the University of Virginia.

One major factor that’s getting less attention, and yet accompanies many cases, is the volume of drinking happening on or near campus.

That’s our focus tonight.

Gwen has a conversation we recorded earlier this week.

GWEN IFILL (NewsHour):  The scenes you find of college parties on the Web and in the movies play up the fun, the rowdy moments, the sheer “Animal House” craziness of campus life.

But a recently renewed discussion about rape allegations has thrown a fresh spotlight onto the dark side of problems associated with excessive drinking at institutions of higher learning.  More than 1,800 students die each year from alcohol-related incidents; 600,000 students have been injured while drunk and nearly 100,000 sexual assaults have been reported that were linked to alcohol intoxication.

We talk with two people who have seen the problem close up.

Jonathan Gibralter is the president of Frostburg State University in Maryland, which has about 5,000 students.  He’s the co-chair of a college presidents working group to address student drinking.  And Beth McMurtrie is with “The Chronicle of Higher Education” and she’s part of a team that just finished a special series, “Alcohol’s Hold on Campus.”