c. 2000 Religion News Service

(UNDATED) Last month a young man with a world of promise was killed in my town. He was not in a high-crime area; in fact, he was on the campus of one of the country’s most selective private universities. He was not murdered with a knife or a gun. Although the police have labeled it a homicide, his death was a direct result of alcohol.

David Shick, a popular junior at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., had reportedly been drinking with a group of friends. When they encountered another group in the early hours of the morning, a fatal fight broke out and Shick hit his head or was hit in the brawl.

While the magnitude of the tragedy is unusual, the potential for other such incidents exists almost every evening at most colleges and universities in America.

A recent study by the Harvard School of Public Health finds that “binge drinking is the most serious problem affecting social life, health and education on college campuses today.”

The extensive study concluded that 40 percent of all college students are binge drinkers, with as many as 80 percent of students on some campuses given to regular consumption of excessive amounts of alcohol. The statistic is so shocking that the study offers extensive backup tables to prove its conclusions are correct.

In addition to the strikingly high number of binge drinkers on campus, a significant number of students feel the effects of binge drinking even if they themselves abstain or drink only in moderation.

The secondhand effects of binge drinking include “insults and arguments, vandalism, physical assaults or unwanted sexual advances,” according to the study.

So for those of us who are sending or contemplating sending our children to college, the question of their safety becomes a major issue.

Chances are great that even if they haven’t been drinkers in high school, they will succumb to the overwhelming, alcohol-based social scene on most campuses.

And even if they don’t drink excessively or at all, they are still more likely to be victims of other drunken students.

But why? Why do college administrators, parents and students tolerate it? When it is clearly illegal for most college students to drink, why is it so widely ignored?

The Harvard College Alcohol Study did more than just measure the level of alcohol abuse on college campuses. It also considered what could be done to stop it.

While the study supports the importance of alcohol education, it shows such education is simply not enough. Four out of five college students have had alcohol education; ironically some of the heaviest drinkers are among the most educated but simply ignore what they have learned.

Nearly 70 percent of college presidents said they considered binge drinking a problem on their campus but did not know what to do about it. Many feared student protests if they tried to tighten controls on drinking.

But another interesting statistic shows more than half of all college students believe alcohol is a problem on campus and support more controls.

“Administrators and students need to appreciate that the heaviest drinkers are a vocal, highly visible, but relatively small minority,” reports the study.

“Up to now, given peer pressure to drink, non-bingers felt marginalized, with the best they could ask for being separate, alcohol-free dorms. The segregation should work the other way, with students who disturb the peace moved to dorms for people whose behaviors indicate they need extra supervision.”

The study also notes that bars serving cheap alcohol abound near most campuses, an issue that should be jointly addressed by the college and community. And it also points out that women are most at risk on a campus where binge drinking too often results in sexual assaults.

This landmark study not only points out a problem of epidemic proportion, but also offers very concrete ways to deal with the issue. One group the study does not address is parents.

As parents we need to improve our own knowledge of this situation and ask the colleges where we send our children to be accountable.

For the parents of David Shick it is too late. But parents of college students _ and those who will go to college in the near future _ need to understand just how vulnerable their children are and help stop what has become an unacceptable risk of going away to college.

DEA END BOURKE