Other schools use parents, GPAs, in alcohol enforcement

As binge drinking and alcohol-related violations continue to be a problem at universities across the country, some schools are revising their alcohol policies to curb those issues.

James Madison University and Wake Forest University recently changed their alcohol policies to include parental contact after the first alcohol violation. Wake Forest now also requires freshmen pledges to the Greek system to have a certain grade point average.

Though Chapel Hill police have increased alcohol patrols and UNC fraternities are experimenting with an earlier, dry rush process, administrators said they want to treat their students more like adults and not involve parents until it is absolutely necessary.

Mark Warner, senior vice president for student affairs and university planning at James Madison University, said they have found parental intervention for alcohol violations to be an effective deterrent for binge drinking.

“Now students will be a little more conscientious,” Warner said.

He said the university decided to change its alcohol policy after 8,000 students attended an off-campus party last year, leading to 185 arrests. Not all of those arrested were James Madison students.

He said that this party happens at the same time every year, involving a mixture of students from different universities.

Dean Blackburn, assistant dean of students for UNC, said the University follows a similar policy to James Madison’s, but does not contact parents when dealing with the first alcohol violation.

He said that after the second violation, administrators might contact the parents because the student might need more structure than the University can provide.

“The University needs to take as many measures as possible to reduce the access,” Blackburn said. “We have 36 bars in a one-mile radius.”

Those measures include keeping the libraries, Student Union and recreation center open late.

He said it’s important to have a strong and clear policy, consistent enforcement, a health-promoting environment, tough restrictions for minors and alternative activities.

Blackburn said a national survey conducted last fall found that UNC students binge drink less than the average college student in the United States.

UNC students fall approximately 5 to 6 percentage points below the national average of binge drinkers, Blackburn said.

“However, that same research tells us that when our students do drink, they experience more negative outcomes,” he said.

Many UNC students report doing poorly in class, getting in fights or obtaining injuries due to binge drinking, he said.

Anne Doolen, the executive director of the Alcohol and Drug Council of North Carolina, said it is important for administrators to remember how dangerous binge drinking is for minors.

“The question is, are you going to handle this as a behavior problem or are you going to deal with this as a high-risk issue?” she said.

“We tend, as a culture, to think binge drinking as college students is a part of the college experience,” Doolen said. “We need to have some understanding that binge drinking doesn’t have to be a part of that college experience.”

Doolen said it’s important to get students help when they need it instead of just calling their parents.

“It’s a chronic disease and it’s very similar to diabetes and other chronic diseases and it needs to be treated the same way,” she said.

Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.