Rodin unveils task force for fighting binge drink mentality

A committee of 14 will try to develop recommendations for cutting down on heavy drinking and alcohol abuse. University President Judith Rodin hopes to keep the issue in the spotlight. It has jolted college campuses nationwide, landing three Penn freshmen in the hospital and sending Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Louisiana State University students to the grave last semester. The culture of binge drinking is nothing new to University administrators, but the amount of binge-drinking and the resulting aggressive behavior that has recently plagued the Penn community led University President Judith Rodin to appoint a special committee on Binge-Drinking and Alcohol-Related Assault. "We need to ensure that this issue doesn't move out of the spotlight, that it isn't being treated as the hot topic of the hour," Rodin said in a press release Monday. "We need creative, long-range solutions, and I know the committee will work hard to develop good, viable strategies." Comprised of 14 members of the University community, five of whom already sit on the Alcohol and Other Drug Task Force, the "short-term" committee will work hard at the beginning of the semester to develop recommendations and coordinate University resources for alcohol abuse, committee member and Drug and Alcohol Team advisor Kate Ward-Gaus said. The committee expects to submit recommendations to Rodin by the end of the semester. After reviewing the findings, the president will determine whether the University should secure additional financial resources, Ward-Gaus added. Committee member and Graduate School of Education Junior Greg Dubrow warned that a multi-faceted issue necessitates brainstorming several possible solutions. "It's not one of those problems like outsourcing where you can point to a specific company," he said. Yet according to Ward-Gaus, the University's reputation as the "party school of the Ivies," may shed light on how Penn students stack up to the national average in terms of binge drinking statistics. Students journey to Penn as "social creatures," she said, adding that "an everybody's doing it" mentality may influence students' decisions on drinking. According to a 1994 Harvard School of Education poll of more than 140 universities and colleges across the country, 24.5 percent of Penn students said they binged more than once a week-- a figure comparable to the national average. Harvard defined binge drinking as five or more drinks in one sitting for men and four or more for women. And a Daily Pennsylvanian survey conducted in October found that 31 percent of 116 randomly selected Penn students binged five or more times since September. The committee, which held its first meeting last week, will consider these statistics, along with the policies of other Universities, in formulating its recommendations, Ward-Gaus said. She added that suggestions posted last semester on the Alcohol and Other Drug Task Force's Web site -- including mandatory counseling for students, a reduction in the legal drinking age and the establishment of late-night social environments minus the alcohol -- are strategies that the committee may tap into. But Ward-Graus stressed that the committee will not direct its efforts to changing policy or instituting greater disciplinary action. "It's time to move past conversation on the law and talk about quality of life issues," she said.