Experts skeptical that new policy will stop drinking

Don't expect Penn students to cut beer and liquor from their diets just yet. Or at least that's what drug and alcohol experts at several Ivy League universities and local agencies are predicting in the aftermath of last week's decision to ban alcohol from registered undergraduate parties and other on-campus social functions. Holly Sateia, dean of student life at Dartmouth College, said that although she supports Penn's right to enforce strict alcohol policies, she is not sure that preventing student drinking is feasible. "I don't think just one course of action will work," Sateia said. And Marianne Waterbury, the associate dean of Student Life at Princeton University, acknowledged that preventing underage student drinking is often beyond an institution's control. "The law of New Jersey may have reduced the numbers, but so far it hasn't eliminated the problem," Waterbury said. "We're always dealing with alcohol." She also claimed that preventing underage drinking is as challenging as preventing speeding on the highway. "Does the law state that you can't exceed 55 miles-per-hour on the New Jersey Turnpike? What's the average speed? 70?" Tom Flaherty, a local expert who works in the drug and alcohol field, said he believes that alcohol abuse "will continue" at Penn and simply "go underground." But he did acknowledge that the policy should "cut down on alcohol-related incidents" by making alcohol less accessible. "I think it's probably a good idea for Penn and other schools to try different methods of curbing alcohol abuse," Flaherty added. National binge drinking trends are made all the more disturbing by Penn students who express anger toward the administration for banning alcohol, according to Sean Conaboy, the vice president of Development at the Caron Foundation -- a local alcohol treatment center. "The outcry and uproar is reflective of just how high a value college students place on their right to drink and party," Conaboy said. "It's a pretty sad state of affairs to see students protesting that they can't drink their faces off. It's pathetic," he added. Conaboy also noted that certain societal problems -- like acquaintance rape, fights and crime -- are much more likely to occur when the involved parties are intoxicated. If the administration's decision to temporarily ban alcohol use on campus will "reduce the behaviors and problems affiliated with binge drinking," then the policy should be deemed a success, Conaboy said. Still, most experts emphasized that education -- not necessarily abstinence -- is the best way to reduce binge drinking on college campuses. "In order for us to really lessen binge drinking, we have to do a multi-dimensional approach, including restriction, education and partnership with parents," Sateia said. Although these experts may deal exclusively with people suffering from addictions -- and not just young adults in search of a good time -- some still contend that many college students are abusing alcohol too often and could easily put themselves and others at risk. "You don't have to be an alcoholic to fall off a building. It just takes a few drinks too many," according to Doris Cohen, the executive director of the local branch of the National Council on Alcohol and other Drug Addictions. "I think when something like that happens, the college has to stop and say we're not doing business like than anymore," Sateia said.