Binge drinking at Penn is currently comparable to the national average among college students but is dropping at a significantly higher rate, according to a recent study conducted by the Harvard School of Public Health and the latest figures from Penn's Office of Health Education.
The Harvard study found that approximately 44 percent of college students partake in binge drinking, which is defined as five drinks on one occasion for males and four for females. That figure has remained the same for nearly a decade.
But Penn's latest numbers -- the details of which will be released next week -- report that student binge drinking rates have dropped from 49 percent in 2001 to 43 percent, according to Alcohol Policy Initiatives Director Stephanie Ives. And in 1999, Harvard reported that 60 percent of Penn students were binge drinkers -- over 15 percentage points above the national average.
"We've definitely seen a decrease," Ives said. "And it's because of the leadership of faculty, staff and students... and their concerted effort to reduce abusive drinking practices at Penn."
Ives said the drop in binge drinking is due to the implementation over the last three years of a monitoring system at both Greek and non-Greek parties, the increase in non-alcoholic events on campus and the medical amnesty clause, which allows students to receive medical attention for alcohol-related problems without the threat of legal ramifications.
And because, Ives said, the numbers collected by the Office of Health Education have consistently shown that alcohol abuse prevention efforts have been fruitful, she foresees no new alcohol policy establishment in the near future.
"We're working on implementing our current policies as effectively as possible," Ives said.
The Office of Health Education analyzed data from about 2,500 undergraduates who responded in February to an online survey, which is the third of its kind at Penn, about their alcohol consumption over a two-week span.
In the latest Harvard survey, the fourth in an ongoing study begun in 1993, researchers asked a nationally representative sample of students to fill out an 18-page questionnaire about drinking habits and other personal information.
The national survey also reported that among "traditional" students -- those 18-23 years old who live independently from their families and who are not married -- fraternity and sorority members, at 75 percent and 62 percent respectively, reported the highest rates of binge drinking.
Ives said that Penn's figures regarding Greek binge drinking were, "in general, comparable" to the national study's findings.
Data gathered by the Office of Health Education in 2001 showed that binge drinking was much more common among varsity athletes, Greeks and students who live off campus, as more than 90 percent of students who fit these three criteria reported binge drinking during the two weeks prior to taking the survey. These students were found to be 19 times more likely to report binge drinking than students living on campus who were neither athletes nor Greek.
Last year's data also found that Penn Greeks who live in fraternity or sorority houses were 10 times more likely to report binge drinking than non-Greeks who live on campus.
InterFraternity Council President Conor Daly said that these numbers come as no surprise to anyone, and that the IFC and OFSA are trying to come up with ways to lower binge drinking rates, such as providing incentives to fraternities to hold monitored and registered parties.
"We are not looking at eliminating alcohol, but we need to reduce the dangerous drinking practices," Daly said. "It's going to take a lot of effort to find a solution... and I'm not even sure if there is such a solution."
But OFSA Director Scott Reikofski maintained that although there may be a correlation between Greek participation and binge drinking on a national level, Penn's binge drinking numbers have gone down, while Greek participation on campus has increased.
"We've been doing a lot of education, even more than in the past, with fraternities and sororities about alcohol," Reikofski said. "There's been a lot of alcohol issues within the college houses and other places on campus as well. [Binge drinking] exists all across the student body, not just in Greek organizations."
