Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, October 28, 1994 TAG: 9410280092
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ALLISON BLAKE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Attention all you tailgatin' Hokie alumni: Keep drinking at football games and you might find your 50-yard-line tickets revoked.
That was one idea to curb student drinking at Virginia Tech, where the problem apparently has grown so bad that a mini-summit of administrators and campus leaders was held Thursday to try to figure out what to do about it.
Many agreed that existing policies and punishments for the 8,500 on-campus student residents - the vast majority under 21 - don't seem to be working. Only a couple of weeks ago, a young man was sent home for his second drinking violation of the year: consuming a quarter-gallon of bourbon in an evening.
"We're perceiving that a lot of our injuries and accidents are alcohol-related," said Gwendolyn Martens, a longtime nurse at Student Health Services.
"We need to attend to some environmental problems," Lanny Cross, associate vice president for student affairs, said.
Environmental problem No. 1: How to create an atmosphere where new freshmen don't feel as if they have to at least hold an open beer to be cool and fit in at a party.
And No. 2: How to break a heavy-drinking pattern set long before students show up at college. One student told of her teetotaling high school buddy who started drinking late in his senior year to "get in shape" for college.
"They have this image of campus life," Interfraternity Council president Henry Hsu said.
Amid these stories come complaints of alumni behavior that, by example, seems to sanction heavy drinking by students.
Recently, two Tech graduates came to the East Carolina University game in a truck filled with iced-down beer.
"They were handing out beer to Tech students," said Andy Wells, an undergraduate residence hall adviser. Only two of the 14 students in his group were old enough to drink, he said.
"I think the message needs to be sent: 'Hey, why don't you try to help?'" he said.
The group of nearly 30 that met Thursday hopes to help, but its members' vigorous debate of tough ideas proposed by Tom Goodale, vice president for student affairs, showed that they face problems. Clamping down too hard might backfire in some instances, some administrators pointed out.
While few statistics exist to show how pervasive the campus drinking problem has become, the fake IDs of 600 Tech students were confiscated last year. About 50 students were arrested by campus police for heavy drinking earlier this season at the West Virginia University game.
On the other hand, only two students this semester have gone before the university judicial board for second alcohol violations, which means being written up in residence halls or picked up by campus police for exhibiting negative behavior influenced by alcohol use.
Not all serious drinking is caught, and not all takes place on campus.
"I'm at the end of my collective administrative rope," Goodale said after the meeting.
Nearly every Monday morning, residence hall director Ed Spencer gets reports of at least three Tech students rushed from campus to Montgomery Regional Hospital for excessive drinking.
Administrators will examine which suggestions should be introduced by mid-November for review and possible approval by the university governance system.
Among sanctions that were discussed for students who violate the alcohol policy:
One-term suspension on second violation.
Suspension of athletic card privileges after first offense at an athletic contest.
No admission permitted for one year to any university activity if the student is escorted from any university event for an alcohol-related offense.
Students who are arrested and convicted for possession of a fake ID would be placed on university disciplinary probation for the duration of their enrollment.
On second alcohol violation in residence halls, automatic revocation of contract and dismissal from the halls.
Requiring 20 hours of community service on campus for first violation of alcohol policy.
Revoking driving and parking privileges on campus for alcohol offenses.
Revoke all university privileges to organizations that are found in violation of university alcohol policies.
by CNB