Malloy speaks out on college alcohol abuse
By HELENA PAYNE
News Editor
Just in time for National Alcohol Screening Day on Thursday, University President Father Edward Malloy shared findings on the risks of college drinking from research by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) Tuesday morning at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.
Malloy, along with three other panelists involved in alcohol research, released a study by the NIAAA's Task Force on College Drinking titled "A Call to Action: Changing the Culture of Drinking at U.S. Colleges." The task force concluded that drinking by college students ages 18 to 24 contributes to an estimated 1,400 student deaths, 500,000 injuries and 70,000 cases of sexual assault or date rape each year.
The study also reports that a quarter of students in the 18-to-24 age group have driven while under the influence of alcohol in the past year. Also in the same age group, 400,000 students reported having had unprotected sex as a result of drinking.
Malloy, who co-chairs the NIAAA, which is part of the National Institutes of Health, has also chaired three other separate studies dealing with alcohol behavior in colleges.
"This has been an area that he's been interested in and active in for a number of years now," said University spokesperson Dennis Moore.
Malloy spoke to the National Press Club's audience in a 10-minute presentation highlighting the drinking culture that has emerged on college campuses. The other panelists included Raynard Kington, acting director of the NIAAA; Ralph Hingson, associate dean for research at the Boston University School of Public Health; and Mark Goldman, director of the Alcohol and Substance Abuse Research Institute.
"All you have to do is look at a couple of cable television channels that cover spring break, where endless groups of drunken students get up and say `I'm having the greatest time here,' and then you recognize on the basis of these statistics what the fallout of the great time is,'' the Associated Press reported Malloy as saying.
During Malloy's trip to Washington, he also met with U.S. Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., later Tuesday to discuss his work to reduce drinking among college students.
"Although a minority of college students engage in high-risk drinking, all students and their parents, faculty and members of the surrounding community suffer the negative consequences of alcohol abuse, including assault, vandalism and traffic accidents," said Malloy in a Notre Dame press release before the news conference. "And I've lived in college dormitories for much of my adult life, so I know firsthand the impact irresponsible drinking has on the quality of residential life."
The NIAAA task force's study showed that drinking rates are highest among incoming freshmen, males and members of fraternities or sororities, and athletes. According to the research, students in two-year institutions, religious schools, commuter schools or predominantly or historically black colleges and universities drink the least.
In response to the study's findings, the task force has created a 3-in-1 Framework to help academic institutions establish prevention programs to help students deal with alcohol problems. Among the examples for ways to effectively deal with campus alcohol issues in a promising way, the 3-in-1 Framework suggests enforcing minimum drinking age laws, reinstating Friday classes and exams and Saturday morning classes, expanding alcohol-free dorms, regulation of alcohol sales and enforced discipline and "Safe-Ride" programs.
The complete study of the task force is in this month's issue of the Journal of Studies on Alcohol.
All News Stories for Wednesday, April 10, 2002
