For four consecutive football Saturdays, familiar chants of “Let’s go Badgers!” will echo across campus and students will join in one of University of Wisconsin’s most well-known traditions — drinking.

Drinking and tailgating is not exclusive to Madison, but our game day experience is nationally renowned.

Many see tailgating and drinking as part of the college experience, but with reported intoxication levels rising in past years, is drinking on game days getting out of hand?

The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) reports 80 percent of college students drink alcohol and 40 percent participate in binge drinking.

Alcohol on occasion and in regulated doses does not pose much of a problem, but when students begin to abuse alcohol, their habits are reflected in academic performance, sleep patterns and overall personal well-being.

Of course it’s unrealistic to eliminate drinking from college campuses, but there should be more regulation on social drinking during the first weeks of college.

The NIAAA reports students are especially vulnerable to heavy drinking during the first six weeks of classes because there are high expectations of partying and social pressure.

At a university noted for both its vibrant drinking scene and football atmosphere, drinking issues tend to be accentuated during the fall semester at UW.

UW Police Department spokesperson Marc Lovicott acknowledges alcohol issues often increase in the beginning of the school year.

“We tend to see issues every year when it comes to game day …in addition to the beginning of the school year … we see alcohol issues on a rise,” says Lovicott.

While Lovicott mentions a rise in general drinking at the start of the year, UW-Madison Police Department also reported an increase in intoxication levels.

“Five, six years ago it was pretty rare to find somebody … with a blood [alcohol] content of .2 or higher. Now we see it almost every weekend,” states Lovicott. “In some cases we’ve come across issues with a .3 and higher which is extremely alarming,” warns Lovicott.

This surge in BAC levels is evident when looking at game day police statistics from last year’s football season.

UWPD reports reveal the highest average BACs from home game ejections last year was .288. However, high BACs of .321 and .301 were reported for the second two games of the year.

To put this in perspective, once a person hits a BAC of .3 or greater, the individual is at risk to go into a coma, a BAC upwards of .4 can be fatal.

As intoxication levels continue to rise, UWPD are exploring reasons to explain this worrisome trend.

“We’re not sure if students are drinking more or using liquor instead of beer, but it is something we are keeping an eye on,” Lovicott said.

Camp Randall, like most colleges in America, does not serve alcohol at games. But the decision to not serve alcohol may spur students to consume unsafe levels prior to the game.

“We’ve heard students like to “load up” before going to the game because … they either aren’t of age or alcohol isn’t served at the game,” says Lovicott.

Thirty-two of the 125 football bowl subdivision (FBS) schools have converted to selling beer at games, 21 on-campus stadiums and 11 off-campus stadiums, which includes major schools like West Virginia, Syracuse and even Minnesota.

Many of these colleges cannot drive up revenue through a passionate fan base, therefore they use beer sales to help make money.

Some schools that now serve beer at college football games, however, have noticed a change for the better. West Virginia in particular has benefited financially and seen an improvement in alcohol-related incidents.

West Virginia estimates $750,000 annual in net profits from beer sales, its campus police report a sharp decline in alcohol-related incidents at games.

But it seems UW isn’t ready to make the jump over to selling beer at games quite yet.

“We don’t have enough data to determine whether or not that’s a good idea,” mentions Lovicott.

There is some concern that by providing alcohol at games, issues could arise from students continuously drinking throughout the game.

The opposite argument could be made, however, that having alcohol at games would deter some student from excessive binge drinking prior to the game, knowing that they would have the opportunity to drink at the stadium.

There is much to explore about whether or not selling beer would slow rising intoxication levels and reduce alcohol related incidents, but the idea warrants future exploration by the university.

Ryan Smith ([email protected]) is a senior majoring in strategic communications.