University Official Believes Drinking Culture Fuels Campus Bingeing Trends
by Jim Brown
November 15, 2005
(AgapePress) - - A new survey shows that six out of ten students in the University of Wisconsin system admit to binge drinking. University system staffers surveyed more than 12,000 students to determine whether alcohol and drug prevention strategies were working on UW campuses, and one administrative official believes the results point to a larger cultural trend. Seven out of ten male students and more than half of female students surveyed said they consumed five or more drinks in one sitting at least once during the previous two weeks. Larry Rubin, Assistant Vice President for Academic and Student Services with the UW system, believes the numbers of students following these patterns of alcohol use are strongly influenced by what he calls a "culture of drinking" in Wisconsin.
"When you compare us with other states where they don't have quite the same kind of culture," Rubin notes, "their numbers are not quite as high." He contends that widely held attitudes about alcohol use in certain areas can create a culture that "certainly influences the behavior of students, not only in college, but high school students who come to college with that kind of background."
Results in the recent alcohol use survey were presented to the UW System Board of Regents last week, and Rubin says the results did not come as a surprise to university officials. "We've been looking at other national studies over the years that pretty much point out similar outcomes," he explains.
"I do have to say, though, that as you look into that national data in more detail, you'll find that it's not just a University of Wisconsin or a college problem," the university official observes. "It's really a problem for the state, if not the nation," he says.
Earlier this year the Princeton Review named the University of Wisconsin-Madison the nation's "Top Party School." UW-Madison has ranked among the top party schools on the Princeton Review's annual report in 13 out of the 14 years the list has been compiled, and was number three in the rankings a year ago.
Evidently, however, some individuals at UW who are seeking more wholesome activities. Associated Press reports that officials at UW have asked the state attorney general if it is constitutional to prohibit resident assistants from leading Bible studies in their dorm rooms.
Controversy erupted after officials at the university's Eau Claire campus sent a letter warning resident assistants that if they continued leading Bible studies, they would face disciplinary action. UW President Kevin Reilly has asked Wisconsin's attorney general to review complaints that the school's policy interferes with the constitutional right to free exercise of religion.
Jim Brown, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
