College Pres Underage Drink pro
. .
July 26, 2004
Members of the Dubuque City Council
Mike Van Milligen, Dubuque City Manager
City Hall
50 West 13th
Dubuque, Iowa 52001
Dear Members of the Dubuque City Council and City Manager Mike Van Milligen:
As you are likely aware, high-risk drinking has been a chronic problem on college and
university campuses across the nation. It is linked to vandalism, violence to person and
property, sexual assaults, suicide, poor academic performance, college drop-out rates and
deadly accidents. One only has to recall the countless headlines, mghtening statistics and
campus tragedies that have inundated the media over the course of the past several years
to confirm the extent of this profound problem. The regularity of these incidents
indicates that they are not isolated, but rather a frequent and unwelcome guest on our
college campuses.
Sadly, it appears that high-risk drinking is as much a part of the collegiate experience as
our mission of educating responsible citizens, and encouraging character development
and civic engagement in our students. As college presidents, we are committed to the
numerous efforts made nationally, and on our own campuses to "turn the tide" on high-
risk drinking. The higher education community's efforts have included policy
development and enforcement, campus/city coalitions, substance-free housing, social
norm campaigns, faculty awareness campaigns, peer education programs, alternative
social activities, residence hall programming, and the list goes on.
As we examine the national epidemic of binge drinking on today's college campuses, a
quote by Socrates, first shared some 2500 years ago comes to mind: "Everything in
moderation. Nothing in excess." The Harvard School of Public Health's National
Alcohol Study found that two in five college students, (including underage first-year
students), can be called "binge drinkers", consuming five or more drinks in a row for
males and four or more drinks in a row for females. As a result of their drinking, nearly
1400 college students are killed each year in car automobile accidents, from other
unintentional injuries and alcohol overdoses, and approximately 500,000 sustain
unintentional injuries as a result of their drinking. The U.S. Surgeon General reports that
nationally, college students drink nearly four billion cans of beer and enough wine and
hard-alcohol to make their annual consumption of alcoholic beverages an unthinkable
thirty-four gallons per person. College students spend approximately $5.5 billion a year
on alcohol, more than on non-alcoholic beverages and their books combined. Everything
in moderation. Nothing in excess. Operationalizing Socrates' philosophy continues to be
a challenge as we join other college presidents nationally in addressing this troubling
campus epidemic.
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Today, we know more about the effects of alcohol abuse over time, as many of the
negative consequences of such abuse do not appear until later in the student's adult life.
For example, we now know that, over the course of their lifetime, more than 300,000 of
our 12 million undergraduates nationally will die from alcohol-related causes---more than
the number who will earn master's degrees and Ph.D.s.
Despite our growing frustration in attempting to address this issue, we know we must
continue our efforts to impact positive change. Our goal is not to eliminate alcohol, but
rather to promote its responsible use, change the culture regarding drinking and establish
new, healthier norms of behavior for our students. But to do this, we need your help.
As city leaders, you have an opportunity to join us in our effort to impact positive change.
As a community, we have the opportunity to come together and change the environment
that induces high-risk drinking, a problem that has plagued our college campuses and our
larger society. With the work of the city's Binge Drinking Sub-Committee and the work
of all of our colleges, we have a strong foundation on which to build. But, it's not
enough. We need to engage the bar/tavern owners in our efforts to promote responsible
(legal) use of alcohol. As a city, we must publicize community coalition efforts to reform
bar practices that encourage excessive drinking and recognize bars that cooperate in those
efforts.
Please join us in our effort by supporting the proposed city ordinance that includes
provisions that would prohibit underage persons from being in a bar/tavern from 9:00
p.m. until closing time, and would end bar owners' sale practices (like buffet style, or "all
you can drink" specials) that promote high-risk drinking. Conclusively, Harvard's
National Alcohol Study found that the lower the price of alcohol, the higher the level of
binge drinking; the more special promotions, the higher the level of drinking; and, the
less enforcement of underage drinking laws, the more alcohol underage people consume.
In January of 2002, six months after Iowa City's City Council passed a similar ordinance
(effective 8/1/01), the police department's monthly bar check reports showed that
citations for underage possession in bars had dropped about 17 percent.
We look forward to continuing our partnership with city leadership, local law
enforcement and members of the hospitality industry as together, we work to create a
better, safer social environment for our students, and the Dubuque community at large.
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Jeffrey F. Bullock, Ph.D. ~:s E. Collins
President, University of Dubuque President, Loras College
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Catherine Dunn, BVM, Ph.D.
President, Clarke College