Public drunkenness everyone’s problem

Editor's note: This letter was sent to Penn State President Graham Spanier on May 25. It is reprinted here with the author's permission, along with a column by Spanier.

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These are published today in hopes that they spark a community dialogue on the impact of problem drinking locally. A Public Issues Forum on Thursday, as detailed on Wednesday's Views page, also will tackle the excessive drinking issue.

Readers are welcome to share their views in 200-word letters and 500- word columns for publication in the Centre Daily Times and on CentreDaily.com in coming weeks. Send them to cdtletters@centredaily.com or mail them to us.

Dear President Spanier, I am writing to inform you of an incident that occurred at our house Friday, May 1 involving a Penn State student. It was terribly traumatic and my hope is that after hearing about it you will be spurred on to action to address the widespread nature of extremely excessive consumption of alcohol by students as well as the relationship of students with the community in which they reside during their years in State College and University Park.

At 1 a.m. we were awakened by a noise that turned out to be an extremely drunk student who had come into our house, into one of our bathrooms, and was in the process of taking a shower, even though he had completely pulled down the shower curtain and rod in his drunkenness.

He was naked from the waist down. The bathroom he was in is our oldest daughter’s, and her room is a mere few feet away. My husband and I wrestled him out of the house amid much screaming, but not before our daughter was awakened and witnessed the incident.

We managed to get him out the front door and he took off running down the street. We called 911 and the police tackled him a block and a half away and took him to spend the night in jail. He was charged with many crimes, including indecent exposure.

This event has been extremely traumatic for our daughter. Even though she is remarkably intellectual and a dedicated and high-achieving student, she now claims she does not want to go to college, “if that’s how college students are,” and is completely disillusioned with Penn State (even though my husband is a professor and I am in graduate school here).

We live in the Holmes-Foster neighborhood and since that night we have talked with many of our neighbors and residents in other neighborhoods and the police about this sort of crime.

The sad news is how prevalent it is. Literally every family we spoke with had a story of a drunken Penn State student coming into their house thinking it was their own — even arguing with the owners about whose house it was!

Scarier still are the stories of drunk students climbing into bed with strangers and, in some cases, trying to have sex with them. The police have informed us that they have found students out walking on the highway convinced that they were right by their fraternity house.

And this brings us to the crux of the matter: It is all too common for Penn State students to get so drunk that they have no idea where they are or what they are doing. It may seem funny to think of a drunk person coming up to your porch banging on the door crying to be let in, but it quickly becomes unfunny when that person has their pants off and is near your young daughter.

Yet the general attitude around town is that extremely drunken college students are the norm. One neighbor, after hearing our story, even said, “Welcome to State College. Most places send cheese trays. Here we send drunken college kids.”

The acceptance of this kind of dangerous over-consumption is unacceptable on every level. Let me be clear. I have no problem with legal-age people drinking and maybe even drinking a little too much. I am also aware that young people will make mistakes. However, that understanding is very different from an acceptance of the attitude that one’s undergraduate years are to be spent in a blackout two or three nights a week, which is not uncommon on college campuses.

The idea that there is some rite of passage that American college students have to go through by binge drinking needs to be debunked — and fast. Do we really need to wait for that rape or accidental murder or death to happen before we realize what a problem this is?

This kind of extreme drinking is not only dangerous for the drinker and the local residents but it drastically changes the community. Dana Mitra, a professor in the department of education policy studies surveyed students at Mount Nittany Middle School, asking them what was the biggest change they would like to be able to make about their lives.

Their answer? College drinking, because the middle schoolers’ parents will not let them downtown alone even in the early evening to go to a coffee shop with friends or to shop because they are too worried about what may happen to them around the drunk college students.

This is one of the “safest” communities in America and yet our 13- year-olds cannot spend time in town because of fear of drunken college students’ behavior? Not only is this completely ridiculous, it is unjust.

We should not have to live in fear of binge drinking and its consequences. Nor should we have to tolerate the petty crimes associated with it. Yet every year — every week, in fact — property damage happens to private residents at the hands of these drunks.

There is a sign for a preschool at the corner of Sparks Street and Beaver Avenue that is wrecked every year by college students. Everyone I have talked to who lives anywhere near students can leave nothing in their yards — no children’s toys, nothing, because it will be damaged or stolen by drunk college students.

Neighbors have told me of practically being run down in the streets by students literally running for bars after the Ohio State game (were the students really that worried that there wouldn’t be any alcohol left?) and being afraid to take their children downtown on St. Patrick’s Day.

Why do we have to go on accepting this kind of abuse? Why does this have to continue as the American way to get through college?

I am aware of attempts to curb college drinking through education about the ill effects of alcohol as well as providing alternatives to parties focused only on getting extremely drunk.

These actions are important but I believe there is a component missing in all of this. College students must stop seeing themselves as disinterested transients aloof to the community in which they live during their years here. They need to see and understand that they, too, are residents.

This is where community and local action come in, but I strongly believe that it needs to be spearheaded and supported by you (and other university presidents in their towns).

I believe that a much greater effort must be exerted by the university to develop students as good citizens and stewards of their community. They need to view themselves as part of something that is larger than themselves and their search for a good time. They need to realize that their actions really affect other people.

Getting so drunk that you barely know who you are, where you are or what you are doing is the very epitome of irresponsibility. It is as if these binge-drinking students really think nothing they do matters. It does matter. It not only matters a great deal to all of us who have to witness and bear the brunt of their actions, but it matters to their development as responsible adults.

Students need to learn one of the most important lessons of life: You need to be responsible for yourself and your behavior and it is unacceptable to go around trashing your local community.

The sad truth is that most of these types of crimes go unreported or are not criminalized because the police are overwhelmed and because of the level of acceptance of drunkenness.

My husband has a goal of starting a Web site where people can describe their stories of their homes and families being violated by drunken students. That way people will be able to see how prevalent this problem really is.

I hope it is apparent that I am not against students in any way. In fact, it is just the opposite; I want our community to become even more integrated. We love the vibrancy and diversity the university and its students bring to the community. But I hope that it is equally clear that something needs to be done about excessive drinking and the irresponsibility that goes along with it, and that we are very angry, scared, frustrated and upset by the whole experience.

This issue needs to be brought right out into the daylight and addressed. I urge you to be a leader in the process of confronting this issue and to begin perforating the myth that to make your way through college drunk is acceptable, cool and necessary.

I imagine you would rather be a president of a university whose students drink responsibly and are upstanding members of their community rather than one who heads one of the biggest, most notorious party campuses in the U.S. At least, I hope you would.

I also want to make it clear that I realize that this is a long-term problem and that change in students’ behavior will not happen right away. But that does not mean action to address this issue cannot happen right away.

Our daughter, as well as many other community members who have been hurt by binge drinkers, needs to know that the adults with power and influence in State College and University Park take this matter seriously. I hope you will act swiftly and decisively to begin the process of change. Sincerely,

A State College resident

The defendant in this case pleaded guilty to indecent exposure, was suspended from Penn State and is expected to be sentenced this month. The writer’s name has been withheld due to the nature of the case.