Anyone looking for a sign that alcohol abuse has not worsened in recent years might only look at last semester's 22 hospitalizations for alcohol consumption-a number consistent with years past. But administrators and student leaders said this week that the same number also demonstrates that alcohol abuse has not disappeared and that it remains central to the lives of students.
That became all too clear last semester when a Kappa Sigma fraternity brother fell out a window in an alcohol-related incident, leading to increased sanctions from the group's national organization and the fraternity's ultimate decision to disaffiliate itself from its national organization and move off-campus.
Sue Wasiolek, dean of students and assistant vice president for student affairs, admitted that the current discussion on alcohol would be different had the Kappa Sig student been more severely injured or killed.
"Several folks would like to see stricter regulations, would like to see more regulation from a policy standpoint, but I don't anticipate any changes this year," she said. "Some people feel we're sitting on a big time-bomb that will go off at any time."
Two years ago, during the term of interim vice president for student affairs Jim Clack, alcohol was at the top of the student affairs agenda, but when current Vice President for Student Affairs Larry Moneta arrived in 2001, he put alcohol on the relative back burner. Gone were the plans for pushing high-profile alcohol-free programming funds, and in their place came the philosophy that strengthening the student community-through a new residential life plan and enhancement of the student experience with more space in the student village-was a prerequisite to providing any real alternatives to a weekend party scene dominated by booze and binge drinking.
Moneta, in affirming his philosophy on alcohol after 18 months on the job, was even more specific-the only thing that will drastically change the debate on alcohol at the University will be "the next death," he said.
Yet three years ago, a time bomb did go off, when University officials admitted that the death of junior Raheem Bath was caused by alcohol overconsumption.
"The awareness is probably higher today, particularly the awareness about alcohol poisoning and aspiration pneumonia, the kind of things that contributed to the student's death," said Jeff Kulley, a Counseling and Psychological Services alcohol specialist. "I think people have been pretty sensitized to get people help when they are overly intoxicated. So in that regard, I think the awareness is a little higher, and maybe it might be somewhat safer with students being aware of the risks."
Kulley said it was difficult to measure whether students today were engaging in less risky behavior than they were three years ago. Since then, much of the campus social scene has shifted off campus. Duke Student Government and administrators began to provide transportation on the weekends, but those buses were canceled due to lack of participation.
Joshua Jean-Baptiste, DSG president and one of the architects of the bus plan, said drunk driving is a growing concern. "That's one of the things that's not being discussed," he said. "It's one of the issues that is being pushed underneath the rug. The sad thing about that is it will be forced to be discussed if something bad happens. I'd rather us as a University take a more proactive approach to it."
Last year, 47 students were transported to the hospital for alcohol-related incidents, down from 2000-2001's high of 57, including 38 students hospitalized in fall 2000. Alcohol policy violations also remained roughly the same as in fall 2001.
The students at greatest risk for hospitalization include freshmen, for whom the first exposure to freely-flowing alcohol often comes at Duke. Yet Moneta noted that many students come to Duke with a history of alcohol use and pointed out a wider national problem.
"The alcohol problem begins in eighth grade. It's not something that starts when people get here," Moneta said. "We don't want more judicial cases just for administrators to say we're hard-asses.... Neither policy changes nor dances in Armadillo Grill every night will change everything."
He said the most important things his office could work on are more student empowerment, improved transportation and increased funding. Again, he pointed to the benefits of more student-led programming, better social spaces and a greater sense of community as part of the long-term solution. "There could be a bigger drinking problem [at Duke] because this is a boring campus and people have nothing to do," he said.
Moneta said it would be easier to teach responsible drinking if the drinking age were lowered to 18-a stance that President Nan Keohane and other campus leaders have supported.
Kulley added that despite data that shows accidents among 18- to 21-year-olds have decreased because of the higher drinking age, the gulf between the University's legal obligation and its ethical obligation can sometimes result in an inconsistent message.
"It can make it difficult to establish policies around drinking when any policy that appears to accept any drinking from someone who's under 21, the policy then appears to be in conflict with the law," Kulley said.
Jean-Baptiste agreed, and said the University is caught in a Catch-22.
"You have the law... and then you also have the safety of students," he noted. "The University can't support underage consuming. At the same time, by cracking down too hard, it might lead to unsafe behaviors."
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