Underage Drinking On College Campuses

“When students are hospitalized-or worst yet, die from alcohol poisoning, which happens about 300 times each year-college presidents tend to react by declaring their campuses dry or shutting down fraternity houses.” This quote states that there are already many students hospitalized or dead. This happened when the drinking age is 21. I think if the drinking age were lowered, the number of students hospitalized might go up or even double. I think that the college presidents should make strict laws around campus that would help stop students from drinking. If colleges were to have a security check in every dorm, every day that will lower the number of hospitalizations. I know that there would be liquor at student apartments, but it would still help lower the number of deaths.

Underage drinking is a problem within the US and has been for some time. No matter how hard many businesses try it still goes on because of the kid’s lucrative ways to obtain it. Many kids use fake IDs or have a person of age purchase it for them. This problem of alcohol abuse is most prominently seen it college. One college it often occurs at is Indiana University in Bloomington. The early habit of drinking alcohol can have many bad effects on one’s body at a young age and causes habits, decrease in grades, and other negative outcomes.

What do failing grades, frequent memory lapses, fights, brutal hangovers and unplanned sexual activity all have in common? They are all frequent results of binge drinking by college students. On a typical Friday or Saturday night you can find the average college student out drinking and having fun. Normally partying with friends at a party, bar, or club; most of these college students are underage consuming excessive amounts of alcohol, or as its better known, “binge drinking.”The term binge drinking is defined as the consumption of five or more drinks in a row by men and four or more drinks in a row by women, at least once in a two week period. “One” drink is defined as 12 ounces of beer, 4 ounces of wine, or one shot of liquor. Alcohol

The problem with college drinking is not necessarily the drinking itself, but the negative consequences that occur from excessive drinking. Alcohol abuse takes an enormous toll on the intellectual and social lives of male students on campuses across the country. Almost sixty percent report drinking alcohol every day. Forty percent of college male binge drink in the past thirty days. Peer pressure get the good students and turn them into alcoholics. Severe Impairment such as speech, memory, attention, reaction time, balance significantly. Judgment and decision-making dangerously. You can loss of consciousness. Alcohol is abuse too much by college males.

College drinking is a major problem and it affects the lives of students their families and the community. As the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism website notes: “About four out of five college students drink alcohol. . .” (“College Drinking”). The Affects of alcohol have impacted the lives of many people. I believe drinking is a problem, and believe that it is a problem that it is often overlooked by Parents, colleges, and students. Parents, colleges, and students need to learn about college drinking, the factors that make it a problem, and how to prevent students from drinking while attending college or limit

The answer to these questions would greatly impact the future of campuses nationwide. The State University campus is dry, meaning there is neither alcohol nor paraphernalia allowed on the campus at any time regardless of age. In the same city, however, Christian Brothers University is a wet campus that allows all students 21 and older to have alcohol in their dorms and around campus. A major question that should be considered is how schools such as these two would be affected in their policies if the drinking age were lowered.

It’s no doubt that alcohol has a major sway on today’s society across the board both culturally and globally. When we take a look into past history, we can see how alcohol has been the fundamental measures to religious, professional, and social concerns. It seems that no matter how far our history books go back, the United States has had a question about the consumption of alcoholic beverages. Through the years of Prohibition halting the sale, shipping, and ingestion of alcohol and the constitutional acts delegating who is accurately fit to drink. Today’s controversy is a lot less infringing on personal rights. It’s regarding whether the legal drinking age should be lowered from twenty-one to eighteen. This has been a huge controversy geared exclusively towards college students due to the fact that alcohol consumption at universities is the definitive part of campus life even though the greater part of students are not legally permitted to drink. It is apparent that through the regularity and risks of binge drinking across universities and the high percentage of DUI and alcohol related fatal crashes, that something needs to shift in this country. Lowering the drinking age to eighteen would be an expedient and positive step in reducing binge drinking, nurturing the safe practice of drinking alcohol, and permitting those students of legal drinking age the chance to fully and sensibly make mature adult choices.

Students gain expectations to drink alcohol from each other, as they depend on it, pressure each other and face a new environment and a new social setting. When in college, a student does not have anyone looking after them and so they get free time and they do not know how to use it. They end up filling up their extra time, with going out to frat houses, bars, and or other house parties to drink. Students go from being in high school, where they have to be home by curfew and drinking is still sometimes and issues, to not having a curfew and not having someone wait until they get home that night to make sure they aren’t drinking.

Every year, universities always have the same issue regarding alcohol. Students are constantly getting in trouble for possession or consumption. Here at Eastern Connecticut State University, the policy is a dry campus. This means that alcohol is completely prohibited on campus. There are many opinions when it comes to this choice, as there are also many pros and cons to it.

has been alleviated at the University of Oklahoma (James 2010). After alcohol prohibited in fraternity and sorority houses and student housings at OU, the president of the inter-fraternity council said that there is less drinking activities on campuses. Instead of spending much time on entertainment or parties, fraternities are shifting their focus on academics and awards. Also, dry policy can actually depress the number of violations on campuses. The OU Student Conduct Office found that from 2007 to 2010, the reported violations fell from 191 to 75 (James 2010). By interviewing almost 100 colleges, including both regular and dry campuses, it was found that students who drank a lot at high school consumed less alcohol at dry campuses. Even

Alcohol abuse is a serious health problem when it comes to college students. "The average amount of binge drinkers on college campuses is 50% of men and 39% of women" (<a href="http://www.oregoncounseling.org/ArticlesPapers/">http://www.oregoncounseling.org/ArticlesPapers/</a>). There are various reasons why students drink and serious short and long term effects on the body and mind. Alcoholism is a serious problem for college students and there are many actions being taken to try to lessen the problem among colleges throughout the country.

In recent years many universities have begun asking themselves, what can we do to solve the problem? Central Michigan University has alcohol policies for those that live in the dorms, first time that you are found drunk or alcohol is found in your room a fine of $100

The consumption of alcohol as a habitual behavior has long been associated with the American collegiate experience, despite the many known negative consequences a student who partakes in drinking can encounter. Because of the danger drunken students pose to a college’s reputation and the safety of its surrounding areas, much research has been done concerning the collegiate party and drinking scenes. This research mostly studied the demographics of the student body, so strategies developed to curtail the illegal or overconsumption of alcohol could be targeted towards the specific groups that demonstrated the highest likelihood of participating in these acts. When the strategies were implemented, however, there was little decline in the number of college students who chose to party and drink (Vander Ven 2011). This failure did not point toward a flaw in the research data, but instead a lack of research into the benefits a collegiate drinker receives that are rewarding to the point he or she cannot resist. This is the topic of Getting Wasted: Why College Students Drink Too Much and Party So Hard by Thomas Vander Ven.

Binge or excessive drinking is the most serious problem affecting social life, health, and education on college campuses today. Binge or excessive drinking by college students has become a social phenomena in which college students do not acknowledge the health risks that are involved with their excessive drinking habits. Furthermore college students do not know enough about alcohol in general and what exactly it does to the body or they do not pay attention to the information given to them. There needs to be a complete saturation on the campus and surrounding areas, including businesses and the media, expressing how excessive drinking is not attractive and not socially

College life is filled with changes. It is filled with many new experiences. As college students, we are on our own, adults. As adults we are responsible for keeping up to date on information that affects us. One issue that affects college students nation wide is drinking. The current legal drinking age in the United States is twenty-one years of age. The Federal government raised the legal drinking age from 18 to 21 in 1984. Even with the current drinking age at twenty-one, many people under that age choose to drink anyway. In fact, a government survey from 1996 showed that 56% of high school seniors reported drinking in the last 30 days (Hanson). With so many underage drinkers, many people