In response to a study showing 1,400 college students are killed each year in alcohol-related accidents, university officials say MSU is ahead of the game in using strategies to combat alcohol abuse.
“I think we’re ahead with the recommendations and programs we’re currently doing,” Olin Health Educator Jasmine Greenamyer said. “You need to locally frame what the expectations are in programs, and MSU has done that.”
The three-year study, done by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, was conducted by a federally appointed task force, which will distribute the study to college presidents, health officials, students, high schools and parents.
The report recommends the “3-in-1 Framework,” which says college officials, students and community members all must be targeted by anti-drinking campaigns.
Greenamyer said MSU works with housing, local bars, police and community groups to target responsible tailgating, responsible marketing, law and policy enforcement and offer educational and informational programs and campaigns.
The report also recommends increasing the number of decoy operations at bars and restaurants, notifying college officials about alcohol-related violations, training for alcohol servers and implementing media campaigns that focus on consequences of violating drinking laws.
Although the American Medical Association attacked an Anheuser-Busch Inc. advertisement that used college mascots, including Sparty, to encourage responsible drinking, Greenamyer said the commercial portrayed a good message.
The 30-second commercial, which featured eight mascots, aired 17 times during the NCAA men’s and women’s basketball tournaments last month.
“I get nervous that the American Medical Association is attacking what was a good message because it dilutes the strength of what they’re trying to say,” Greenamyer said. “I think it’s a good approach to invite the alcohol industry to be a part of the solution and not part of the problem and I’m proud of what we are trying to do.”
Ann Bradley, spokeswoman for the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, said universities have to choose strategies to combat drinking based on individual campuses and surrounding communities.
“Studies show community interventions to be effective,” she said. “But there is no ‘one size fits all.’ If you just focus on the campus, it’s like squeezing a balloon - it fills over into community.”
A study released earlier this year by the Harvard School of Public Health said 44 percent of college students admitted to binge drinking - having four or more drinks in a row for women, or five for men - in the two weeks before the study. MSU officials said the study was flawed, citing a 2000 survey that said out of 5,000 MSU students, 57 percent had fewer than five drinks the last time they drank.
Robert Zucker, who helped write the institute’s alcohol report, said the suggestions that have been offered are the best the task force could come up with right now.
“What’s interesting, and was part of the task force discussion, is that there is no single route into dealing with this problem,” said Zucker, who’s also the director of the Division of Substance Abuse in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Michigan. “We realized this was not just an individual problem, but also a problem that involves the settings of colleges as small societies. The patterns of drinking on college campuses across the country partly have to do with what the college is doing to combat it.”
Manufacturing engineering senior Jacob Stucky said although suggestions and strategies are a good idea, they probably won’t help the problem.
“I think it’s something the campus needs to try if the problem is that bad, but I don’t think drinking is something you can stop,” Stucky said. “People are going to do it anyway.”
