tool name
close“I think binge drinking is the No. 1 problem facing American higher education. This wasn’t on the radar screens of university presidents two or three years ago.”
— Penn State President Graham Spanier on CBS News’ “Sunday Morning,” 1999
Not long after my return to Penn State as president I spoke out on the issue of alcohol abuse and its heavy toll on young people. I spoke to students and parents, before legislators, at the National Press Club in Washington and to faculty, community and alumni groups. I wrote op-eds on the issue for newspapers around the country, and I spoke out on network television news shows. During those first couple of years there was a heavy backlash from the student body. Many people felt we were out to stop them from having a good time. When the administration announced “A fight against dangerous drinking,” students and a number of alumni often did not hear the word “dangerous” in our statements.
A lot has changed in the ensuing 14 years. Now there is little backlash from students. The awareness of student deaths has muted many of those voices. As a result of a tragedy here on campus several weeks ago, there is a renewed dialogue under way. Some of us are even wondering if there is a chance some larger good can come out of something so tragic.
The odds are against us. We have spent millions of dollars over the past decade trying to address the challenge of dangerous drinking. Despite our concerted efforts, the problem persists.
We developed programming on Friday and Saturday nights that offers alternatives to drinking. Our staff and campus police have visited other major college towns to study their methods for addressing the issue. We have turned to academic, medical and legal experts for the best possible advice. One of the biggest frustrations is that in more than a decade nobody has found the magic solution. Nobody in any of the communities we have worked with or studied has been able to point to a major success story in this fight.
Disappointingly, the harder we have fought against dangerous drinking in Centre County, the steeper local alcohol-sales figures have climbed, along with emergency-room visits. One measure of the problem — state store business — has climbed from less than $10 million in 1999 to more than $23 million last year in the four State College stores.
Despite untold hours of work on the issue by Penn Staters and local officials, I’m not sure a great deal has changed for the better other than greater awareness of the problem. Every year we still have several Penn State students, local residents and visitors to the community die in alcohol-related falls, traffic accidents, fights and medical emergencies.
The news is not all bleak. Campus and local officials have developed a model partnership. People now routinely talk about an issue we once avoided discussing.
Dangerous drinking among our students is a community problem, the impact of which is felt broadly. Any effort to mitigate its ill effects will also have to be community-wide. This may be the ideal time for a new conversation.
A recent issue of our student newspaper provided a perfect example of how difficult this issue is going to be for us to face as a community. On Page 6 is a thoughtful editorial outlining the need for the entire community to come together to address dangerous drinking. On Page 3 of that same issue of The Collegian is a quarter-page ad for a local business selling bar tour T-shirts.
We need to separate good intentions from bad decisions. In that spirit I have asked Penn State staff to re-examine anything they can do to help address the dangerous drinking issue in this community.
We welcome ideas that will keep more students and residents of this community alive and healthy. It will be good to see the entire community take part in this discussion.
Graham Spanier is the president of Penn State.
In Print
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