Hundreds of concerned students, teachers and officials are hoping to find the solution to excess drinking.
After the death of a former Minnesota State University, Mankato student, today several organizations in Mankato held a high-risk drinking summit to try to figure out a remedy.
It's not about drinking moderately.
"Drinking to excess, that seems to be on the rise, and so we do see that it's not the same as it's always been," says Tim Penny.
Hundreds showed up for this summit in Mankato, Minnesota State University students and officials discussed problems created by excessive drinking.
"I think that the biggest problem is we're all extremists, we all want to drink to the extreme, we want our education to the extreme, we want to be the best at our jobs," says Stewart.
Current and former students on the panel say that education is the best option to stop excessive drinking, however some argue that no matter how much education, students may still drink excessively.
"It provides the opportunity for somebody to at least learn about it. It's up to the own individual to, if they're going to take it and run with it," says Miller.
"I personally think no matter how much education, it's probably going to be the same 20 years from now," says Stewart.
This summit follows the death of former student Amanda Jax, who drank dozens of shots at a Mankato bar on her 21st birthday.
That bar has since closed.
But those who attended Wednesday’s summit stress this problem isn't isolated to Mankato.
“It doesn't matter what college you go to, what university you go to, there's going to be a problem with drinking and MSU is just like the rest," says Stewart.
“But it's definitely a problem in Mankato and other communities," says Marissa Miller.
Now the MSU community hopes to use lessons learned from Jax's death to find solutions to the problem of excessive drinking.
Some people who attended today's summit say they think educating kids about responsible drinking needs to start earlier.
And that it should include more about safety and moderation.
To view the KAAL video, go to http://kaaltv.com/article/stories/S360888.shtml?cat=10226
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