Drinking on Campus
Can colleges get it under control?
By Karen Lee Scrivo

Alcohol-related deaths at several schools in recent months, including the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, have prompted many administrators to take tougher stands on student drinking. The tragedies – often involving “binge” drinking – underscore how available alcohol is, even to students under 21, and how much drinking is a part of campus life, especially among fraternity. . . .

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Should the legal drinking age be lowered to 18 or 19?

Ruth C. Engs Professor, Applied Health Science, Indiana University,. Written for The CQ Researcher, February 1998	Charles A. Hurley Executive Director for Public Affairs, National Safety Council. Written for The CQ Researcher, February 1998

When Drinking Turns Lethal

Several college students have died in alcohol-related incidents in the past year. Health experts say there are no long-term statistics on alcohol-related deaths among college students. However, it is known that in 1995, 318 people died in the United States just from alcohol poisoning, including 24 people ages 15-24. College students involved in fatal alcohol-related incidents in the past year include:

-- Leslie Anne Baltz, 21, a senior honors student at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, died in November 1997 after falling down a flight of stairs in an off-campus house following a night of drinking. Her blood-alcohol level was 0.27 percent, more than three times the state limit for intoxication.

-- Melinda “Mindy” Somers, 18, a sophomore at Virginia Polytechnic University (VPI) in Blacksburg, died in November 1997 when she fell from an eighth-floor dormitory window after a night of Halloween partying. She had a blood-alcohol level of 0.21 percent, more than twice the state's intoxication level.

-- Three students, from VPI, Virginia Commonwealth University and Radford University, died in car accidents in October and November 1997.

-- Scott Krueger, 18, a sophomore at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston, went into a coma and died in September 1997 after attending an off-campus party with the fraternity he was pledging, Phi Gamma Delta. His blood-alcohol level was 0.41 percent, five times the state's legal limit.

-- Benjamin Wynne, 20, died in August 1997 after a party at the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity house at Louisiana State University. Wynne, a fraternity pledge, had a blood-alcohol level of 0.58 percent, nearly six times the legal limit. Eleven other students at the off-campus party were treated for alcohol poisoning.

-- Rob Jordan, 22, of Hartwick University in Oneonta, N.Y., drowned in May 1997 after attending a party with his Alpha Delta Omega fraternity brothers beside a river near the campus.

-- Five students died in a May 1997 fire in a North Carolina fraternity house; four of the youths may have been too drunk to escape.

[1] The Washington Post, Dec. 7, 1997, p. B1.

Footnote: 1. The Washington Post, Dec. 7, 1997, p. B1.

[2] The Washington Post, Nov. 12, 1997.

Footnote: 2. The Washington Post, Nov. 12, 1997.

[3] The New York Times, Jan. 4, 1998, p. 30.

Footnote: 3. The New York Times, Jan. 4, 1998, p. 30.

[4] The New York Times, Oct. 1, 1997, p. A12. USA Today, Oct. 10, 1997.

Footnote: 4. The New York Times, Oct. 1, 1997, p. A12. USA Today, Oct. 10, 1997.

[5] USA Today, Aug. 28, 1997, p. 3A.

Footnote: 5. USA Today, Aug. 28, 1997, p. 3A.

[6] The New York Times, Nov. 3, 1997, p. A24.

Footnote: 6. The New York Times, Nov. 3, 1997, p. A24.

[7] Newsweek, Oct. 13, 1998, p. 69.

Footnote: 7. Newsweek, Oct. 13, 1998, p. 69.