Should Fraternities Be Banned From College Campus
The frequency of binge drinking at fraternities and sororities leads to an “Animal House” style of living. (Dr. Henry Wechsler, Harvard University) Students celebrate the end of the week by flocking to local bars for $2 pitchers. They prepare for the big game by tailgating in the parking lots with coolers full of beer. Fraternities use keg parties to help recruit new pledges.
As college students return to campus for the new school year, events like these will be repeated throughout the country. If students aren’t more careful experts say tragic events like the drinking binge that killed Louisiana State University student Benjamin Wynne and caused three others to be hospitalized could be repeated.
“Every college has its own horror stories, most not as deadly as the one at LSU,” says Dr Henry Wechsler, a Harvard University professor and author of a 1995 study of binge drinking. “This is not a single occurrence. Something like this will happen again.” According to Harvard studies show that 44% of students and 86% of fraternity residents are binge drinkers, drinking four to five drink in a row. Wechsler attributes this to both heavy drinkers being attracted to frats and the Greek system turning some students into binge drinkers.
So this leads to my question should frats be banned? The stereotype of college fraternities making merry fools of them may be amusing in the movies, but in real life it’s no joke. Alcohol abuse is a major health problem on college campuses all across the nation. So it’s encouraging that a few fraternities are taking a pledge of a different kind: They’re going dry.
Beer is almost as synonymous with the fraternity system as Greek letters, and it won’t be easy to change that culture. But a few fraternities, including Sigma Nu and Phi Delta Theta chapters at the University of Utah, are attempting to put their organizations on the wagon by the year 2000. The Greeks at Utah State University have been dry since 1995. Members aren’t forbidden to drink alcohol, but such beverages eventually will be banned on fraternity property.
Such a policy is unthinkable to many members and alumni, but the reality of high insurance costs and vandalism to their property are just reasons why frats are moving to become alcohol-free. The overriding concern, however, is student health.
Alcohol abuse is epidemic among college students.
Walking around a university’s campus any day of the week, one sees an array of Greek letters worn proudly by young men and women in the Greek system. Fraternities and sororities play a big part in a university. The Greek system can also be an easy target to direct criticism. There are those who oppose the Greek system and those who embrace it. Evan Wright opposes the Greek system in his article “Sister Act” that was featured in Rolling Stone Magazine. He uses examples from students at Ohio State University in Columbus to show his disapproval of the way sororities are now days. He portrays sorority girls as catty conformists who are obsessed with partying with fraternity guys. Evan Wright’s insubstantial claim is full of half-truths in reference to alcohol consumption, conformity, and the purpose of sororities; therefore, his critical position that sororities are corrupt is not credible.
Weshler, Henry, and Wuethrich, Bernice. Dying to Drink: Confronting Binge Drinking on college campuses. Chicago: Rodale Inc., 2002. Print.
College student drunkenness is far from new and neither are college and university efforts to control it. What is new, however, is the potential to make real progress on this age-old problem based on scientific research results. New research-based information about the consequences of high-risk college drinking and how to reduce it can empower colleges and universities, communities, and other interested organizations to take effective action. Hazardous drinking among college students is a widespread problem that occurs on campuses of all sizes and geographic locations. A recent survey of college students conducted by the Harvard University School of Public Health reported that 44 percent of respondents had drunk more than five drinks (four for women) consecutively in the previous two weeks. About 23 percent had had three or more such episodes during that time. The causes of this problem are the fact that students are living by themselves no longer with parents or guardians; they earn their own money; students need to be a part of a group, be accepted; and they have the wrong idea that to feel drunk is “cool.”
Why do college students drink so much? This timeless fad has effected this generation in high percentages since the beginning of college education. Today in America it is estimated that approximately 29% of college students are regular alcohol abusers. Another recent study by the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism performed showed that college students suffered 1,400 deaths, 70,000 date rapes and assaults, and 500,000 injuries each year as a result of alcohol. (McDonald) Although binge drinking (5+ drinks in one sitting) is considered a normal part of the college experience many factors contribute to whether or not an individual is more prone to be an abuser.
The customs that college students go through are mostly a result of the environment they live in. The walls of college sports arenas everywhere have advertisements from alcohol industry sponsors somewhere, even if it is in the smallest area, it is still visible. Magness Arena does not have advertisements on the walls but they do sell beer to students. I have seen many students that go to University of Denver get alcohol when at a game. Local establishments near campus that serve or sell alcohol, depend on the college clientele for their financial success. These students that help with the local establishments normally get their beer for parties. Many people think that it will be easier to meet people at party if there is alcohol. When the majority of students look at a college they look at the sports teams, academics, and they actually...
Not only in the US, Many countries around the world have the same problem in college campuses. Like many European countries, college drinking has been developed into kind of traditional culture in the US and she has been facing the change of the culture of drinking at colleges. However, other than the damage and injuries that happen during semester break each year, the only consequences of college drinking that usually come to the public's attention are occasional student deaths from alcohol overuse, such as alcohol poisoning or other alcohol-related tragedies. (Ramaley) In fact, the consequences of college drinking are much more than occasional and normal. According to the studies, 1,825 college students who aged from 18 to24 died from alcohol-related inadvertent injuries, including car crashes, while 599,000 students are unintentionally hurt over the influence of alcohol (Hingson et al., 2009). College drinking also results in serious injuries, assaults, sexual abuse and other health and academic problems. The impacts of excessive college drinking are more widespread and destructive than most people realize. Therefore, this essay will first consider the pr...
Alcohol use has been an important part of the American college experience since the eighteen century. The early form of drunken college kids with a lifestyle known as “the collegiate subculture”. In the 17000s when “the sons of the rich came to college for four years of pleasure and social contacts. They considered academic work an intrusipon on their fun and they were content to pass their courses with a ‘gentleman’s C’ grade. The collegiate subculture is antieducational with students associated with party scenes, taking precedence over academic endeavors.” Modern college drinking is not limited to power elite, usual universities partiers are from the wealthy. Students use alcohol to demonstrate their privilege status. College for them is not the only pathway to success. They are already success through family wealthy backgrounds. Alcohol consumption is a way to let everyone know about their status and that they had already “made it”.
The University of Arkansas has been very lenient in the past about enforcing the alcohol policy. The University’s policy is dated February 22, 1974. The policy states, “Possession and use of intoxicants in public areas of University facilities (including organized houses) and at official University functions held on campus is prohibited. Persons of legal age as prescribed by state law regarding alcoholic beverages may possess and consume these beverages in the privacy of assigned student rooms. Irresponsible behavior while under the influence of intoxicants is not condoned and may be subject to review and/or action by the appropriate judicial body.” There has been a lot of criticisms to the alcohol policy. First, the fact that it was written in 1974 attracts a plethora of criticisms. I feel that many things have changed since the 70’s and the alcohol policy should also change. Another thing that attracts criticism is the way it has been forced. I have seen pictures in the University of Arkansas yearbook from 1970 that show members of fraternities sitting on the roofs of their houses drinking beer out of the can, which is a direct violation of the alcohol policy. I have also heard rumors that in the 80’s kegs were clearly present throughout the fraternity houses.
In recent studies by U.S News and World Report, college campuses are turning off the tap. In other words banning alcohol entirely. One of the reasons for the banning of alcohol on campus is due to the outstanding reports of alcohol related incidents that have taken the lives of students. September of 97’, Scott Krueger, and eighteen-year-old freshman at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, died from alcohol poisoning while at a Phi Gamma Delta initiation event.(Reisberg, 1) The lack of action taken by MIT caused the students’ parents to sue them for their irresponsibility.(Reisberg, 2) Another accident that occurred due to alcohol was to a twenty-year-old Louisiana State University student named Benjamin Wynne. Wynne had apparen...
Should IPU totally ban alcohol on campus? Some student finds it is hard to answer that question, and most of male student would answer “it does depend on the situation and the mood bro.”. It is not a secret that alcoholic drinks could make a person feel better and more relax especially for a man, if he experiencing depression or stress males often hangout with their friend to overcome their struggle, even I used to drink alcohol sometimes whenever I had problems with my school life, relationship or if I fell under pressure. Even though alcoholic drinks can have some temporary stress relieving benefit, alcohol has plenty of bad side effects for individual and their social environment. Most Universities ban alcoholic drinking on their campuses, but some campus still allow student to drink alcohol in designated areas or for certain events, like our beloved IPU campus for example. Beside the fact that IPU already provide events (e.g. Ball party) that allow student to drink certain amount of alcohol, it is still common for students to break the rules by drink alcohols in the dormitories. Therefore this essay will cover the pro’s and con’s that will be discussed about this topic.
Binge or excessive drinking is the most serious problem affecting social life, health, and education on college campuses today. Binge or excessive drinking by college students has become a social phenomena in which college students do not acknowledge the health risks that are involved with their excessive drinking habits. Furthermore college students do not know enough about alcohol in general and what exactly it does to the body or they do not pay attention to the information given to them. There needs to be a complete saturation on the campus and surrounding areas, including businesses and the media, expressing how excessive drinking is not attractive and not socially accepted.
I attend a university whose motto is "work hard play harder," and I work in a bar. It's safe to say I have seen my share of the at times hilarious (and other times hilariously bad) effects that alcohol can have on people. This past particular Friday night was a devastating time for nearly everyone here on grounds, due to U.Va. basketball's shitshow of a less-than-stellar performance. I made an effort to observe how the actions of the students at the bar affected each other, and I found that conformity was very noticeable this night. Each basketball shot was followed by an alcohol shot, and the celebration and over-indulgent nature of each student at the bar seemed to have a contagious effect on everyone else. It seemed as though students only
Particularly, the most unsafe college drinking, binge drinking should not happen in an environment of colleges so that students who live around the campus would feel more secure. Besides, college is a place to higher people’s education, not a place to meet up and party. It is important to always remind ourselves that binge drinking is a serious issue for the general population as a whole (including people who don’t drink) because it affects us
In 2008, over 80% of United StateS college students have had at least one alcoholic drink in a span of over two weeks (Johnston, O’Malley, Bachman, & Schulenberg, 2009). 40% of these college students binge drink, having four or more drinks. This exceeds the rate of other non-college peers. Research suggests
College students drink and party a great amount. The average student drinks at least three nights a week and that is the weekend. Most sororities and fraternities encourage drinking. The fraternities make their pledges drink and the kids love it. It makes them loosen up and have a good time meeting new people. Drinking is also a good way for students who do not know anybody to meet new people and feel more comfortable when they go into an unfamiliar place with a lot of strangers around. When someone is drunk they feel more comfortable and able to talk to random people they do not know and have a good time. Once someone becomes familiar with certain people or just being drunk around strangers, it becomes a habit and that is when school work starts to not be important anymore. Students who drink start to stop attending classes because they are hung-over, tired because they did not go to bed, or just do not feel like going because they would like to start drinking again. The!