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Faculty, administrators meet to discuss ways to curb alcohol overconsumption by some students

Campus 'summit' Dec. 17

One hundred faculty, staff and administrators assembled for a campus summit Dec. 17 to discuss steps that will reduce dangerous drinking patterns by some students.

2007-12-18
By Dan Nienaber, Free Press staff writer [published in The Free Press, Mankato, MN, 12/18/2007]

In a room full of university faculty and administrators concerned about the changing drinking behaviors of young people, it was four student leaders who gave Minnesota State University President Richard Davenport the most to think about during a campus summit focusing on high-risk alcohol use Monday.

They told him there are three things for college students to do in Mankato: shop, go to the movies and drink.

Davenport admitted it was surprising to hear that perspective coming from students at a university with top-of-the-line athletic facilities, nationally recognized theater and dance programs, and a variety of on-campus events ranging from bowling tournaments to rock concerts.

“Student values didn’t match how we thought we were reading students,” Davenport said.

Prompted by the recent alcohol-related deaths of two MSU students, Monday morning’s summit had the challenging goals of defining high-risk drinking, examining the university’s policies for dealing with students with alcohol problems and deciding what steps to take next. The summit, which was closed to the public, was attended by about 100 people and lasted for about three hours.

“We dealt with bare-bone issues, very core issues dealing with high-risk drinking,” Davenport said during a news conference following the summit.

There is evidence the young people who do drink are drinking differently than they have in the past, said Chris Connolly, MSU Student Health Services director. Statistics show that more students are choosing to not drink, but those who are drinking are consuming larger quantities of alcohol, she said.

They’re mixing alcohol with new high-energy drinks that keep them awake longer and, as a result, drive up blood-alcohol levels. More students also are going out with the goal of getting drunk instead of having a couple of drinks in a social setting.

What’s happening at MSU is a reflection of a nationwide pattern, Connolly added. And there are other factors feeding into the problem, including stress and depression.

“The challenge is finding out what works best to deal with it,” she said. “The answer is going to be different for different people.”

One result of Monday’s summit was to set Jan. 23 as a day for a community-wide alcohol summit on campus. City leaders, bar owners, health experts, law enforcement officers, landlords and residents with concerns about drinking behaviors in their neighborhoods will be invited to that event, Davenport said.

That’s a good thing if the second summit’s purpose is to start something that will open the door to a “community-wide coalition” that will address high-risk drinking in the city, said Jerry Huettl, Mankato Public Safety Department director.

“This is what I’ve been preaching for months — since we started the liquor moratorium,” Huettl said. “If MSU is saying they want to be a catalyst for that, fine. With open arms, we’ll welcome any effort to move toward a community-wide coalition to do this.”

The city’s liquor moratorium temporarily restricted new liquor licenses while the city examined its liquor-related ordinances.

Excess drinking by young people in Mankato was cited as a public safety concern by Huettl before the alcohol-related deaths of two MSU students. One died from alcohol poisoning after celebrating her 21st birthday and another was hit by a car while lying in a road after a sorority event.

An alcohol-fueled student riot near campus in 2003 brought a focus on drinking behaviors. Also, while discussing the downtown entertainment district’s drain on police resources in 2005, Huettl cited a trend of higher blood-alcohol levels in people getting in trouble after drinking.

“We need to understand the effect of this problem on our whole lives,” Huettl said. “We need to get the message out that it’s not OK to simply drink until you drop. It’s not OK. There’s too many issues that come out of that, including dead people.”

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