A killer lurks at college campuses across the country. It hides in refrigerators, in dorm rooms and from house fellows.
Each year about 1,400 college students die from alcohol-related incidents, according to a report by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. Another 500,000 are injured, and 70,000 more are sexually assaulted, the same report said.
From July 2001 through March 2002, 87 University of Wisconsin students were transported to detox, one with a blood alcohol level of .45. Yet UW was fortunate enough to escape the 2001-02 academic year without a single death blamed on alcohol consumption.
Merrillee Pickett, a lecturer of professional development at UW and expert in alcohol and drug issues, said the 1400 alcohol related deaths among college students shouldn’t come as a surprise.
“Usually their data is pretty reliable,” Pickett said. “I don’t know if they’re talking about all the alcohol-related deaths, from overdosing from drinking too much alcohol, or people jumping from piers into lakes and breaking their necks. If they talk about all sorts of alcohol-related things from car accidents and other types of accidents and risky behavior, and also in combination with other types of drugs like ecstasy, then that could be the case.”
According to a 2001 report by Harvard’s College Alcohol Study, alcohol-related incidents at UW resulted in 26 percent of UW respondents experiencing instances of property damage, 30 percent saying they had a serious argument or fight with someone who had been drinking, 69 percent had studying or sleep interrupted and 35 percent experienced an unwanted sexual advance.
The same report found UW students to binge-drink significantly more. Of those surveyed, 66 percent responded that they had consumed excessive quantities of alcohol.
The 2002 edition of the Princeton Review rated UW in the top ten party schools in the country. The University of Rhode Island was rated the No. 1 party school from 1993 to 1995. As a result, the last call for alcohol at Rhode Island came in 1995 when the school adopted an alcohol ban.
UW has undertaken a concerted effort to address the school’s drinking problem. The Dean of Students Office, University Health Services and University Housing have initiated a number of programs.
The RWJ Project, started in 1996 and now renamed PACE for policy, alternatives, community and education, seeks to change the campus and community culture to decrease high-risk drinking and its negative consequences.
Pickett said officials at UW are trying to change the perceptions of drinking.
“I think they are trying to work with the city and trying to change the cultural attitude about drinking and especially abusive drinking,” Pickett said. “The data doesn’t seem to indicate it’s working, but it’s the kind of project that takes awhile. You won’t have immediate results.”
