Alcohol (1)

     This graph was used by Margot Adler, chairwoman of the sociology department at Mallory College, this afternoon for her talk "Women and Alcohol" at a tri-state conference of colleges and universities on the Mallory College campus. The conference, which began yesterday and concludes this evening, was called by the Mallory College president after disturbances at Mallory and other campuses following attempts to curb what college authorities at Mallory described as "excessive and under-age drinking." The conference was titled "How to Cope with Campus Drinking."

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Alcohol Consumption by Adolescent Girls and College Women

     Binge drinking is defined for eighth-graders and high school seniors as five or more drinks in a row at least once in the prior two-week period. For college women, binge drinking is defined as four or more drinks in a row at least once in the prior two-week period.
     Here are excerpts from Adler's talk, which your editor wants reported in a story of 350 words or more, including background material such as the bar graph.

     This graph shows figures about alcohol consumption by girls and young women. My studies indicate an increase in binge drinking by eighth graders of at least 20 percent and an increase of at least 15 percent in drinking by high school seniors and college women over the past five years. This is nothing short of phenomenal.
     We have very little idea of why this is happening, why women are engaging in this dangerous, sometimes lethal, activity. And we have no idea of how to curb campus drinking. I am sure the figures will continue to increase. What was once an exclusively men's activity now has been joined by women, and we are all alarmed at the consequences.
Students seem to be taking their social life far more seriously than their academic life. Perhaps it is because most of them begin partying early. Life on TV is just one long party, and they've been ingesting TV from the cradle. Perhaps it is because they never knew hard times and have not understood that education is the route to a good job. They believe that jobs fall out of the sky and will shower on them.
     We are now doing some research to find the answers. The most obvious answer is peer pressure. Everyone wants to party, and when we party we drink. All of us. But students drink until they drop.
     Our college students believe that partying and drinking are an entitlement, that whatever their age they have the right to drink, and that no one has any business denying them that right. Our task is to find causes, but it also is to make clear at the outset—at their admission to the campus—the rules and regulations regarding drinking. We certainly cannot rely on their common sense.