Binge University

      My eyes open on Saturday morning and I see familiar lime green sheets. I breathe a soft sigh of relief, thankful that I am in my own bed. I turn over to peruse my phone - text messages, social media, hoping that it will help me re-piece my night, a blurred memory that more resembles a parceled dream. Through my pounding headache I think to myself, “Everybody parties in college.” From an early age this is what I understood to be the universal college experience, a common thread of drinking and partying that every student was a part of. Whether it was reinforced through the lifestyle that was portrayed in movies and television shows or anecdotes from older friends and family members, this is what I expected when it came time to take the step in my education – and that was I got. For decades, binge drinking on college campuses has become such a norm that is now regarded among students as a central expectation and even a basic human right. As a member of the Greek system, an institution that many experts regard as the highest area of risk for drinking related incidents to occur, I have witnessed this culture firsthand and just how much it has permeated university life.

      Granted, there exists a sizeable population throughout campuses across the country that does not indulge in what has become a defining characteristic of college life, however, the demographic that does has certainly raised some cause for alarm. More and more students now drink simply for the goal of blacking out and pregame a majority of social events with large quantities of alcohol. According to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, more than 1,800 students die every year of alcohol-related causes. An additional 600,000 are injured while drunk, and nearly 100,000 become victims of alcohol-influenced sexual assaults. In my own time as a student, I have seen various crusades and programs implemented by administrators aimed at reducing the availability of alcohol to undergraduates and policing underage drinking, only to fizzle out under incompliance and backlash from students. The general mantra appears to be that college is a time for young adults to learn to live responsibly and that they should be able to regulate their own drinking habits healthily. While this is a nice sentiment, it is in reality naïve. The drinking culture among young adults in the U.S. has become such a fixture in the college experience with the prominence of massive tailgates, fraternity parties, etc. that schools simply lack the resources and inertia to effectively stem this issue, especially when, in the eyes of boosters and alumni, so many other priorities take precedent.

      As a student who is a participant in this culture, my position on this issue is as murky as the programs in place attempting to fix it. I have been lucky enough to find a balance between the social and scholarly aspects while in college, but I have seen many who could not to their own detriment. While we are adults capable of making informed and responsible decisions, the temptations of indulgence, especially when it comes to drinking and drugs, seem inescapable at times. Proactively educating students on safe drinking habits which has become the go-to strategy for many schools in the U.S., does not appear to be enough to really solve anything, especially when couched within a society that already values excess in all other facets of life.