
DATE: Sunday, October 5, 1997               TAG: 9710050098

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY LIZ SZABO, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH                    LENGTH:   86 lines

RECENT DEATHS IN NATION RENEW FIGHT AGAINST BINGE DRINKING

The school year has just begun, but binge drinking already has claimed the lives of at least two college students across the nation.

On Saturday, representatives from 19 Virginia colleges and universities tried to develop a plan to prevent such tragedies.

More than 60 students, administrators and police officers attended a discussion on combating binge drinking, organized by the Virginia Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control.

Working toward such changes may be a daunting task. But the ABC department announced at the conference that it will award at least $25,000 in grants to 11 schools for alcohol education programs, said ABC spokeswoman Jennifer Toth. Individual schools may receive up to $5,000.

The annual event was lent new urgency by recent alcohol-related deaths at Louisiana State University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Participants - which included Tidewater Community College, Old Dominion University, Norfolk State University, Hampton University and Virginia Wesleyan - provided a wide range of strategies.

Freshman Nealy Gihan praised Hampton University's curfew, which requires first-semester students to be in their dorms by 11 p.m. on weeknights and by 1 a.m. on weekends.

``Freshmen hate it,'' Gihan said. ``But from talking to upperclassmen, it seems that once the curfew is lifted, people do behave more responsibly.''

Fraternities Sigma Nu, Phi Delta Theta and Phi Gamma Delta have pledged to make their houses across the country alcohol-free by 2000, said Jason R. Guyton, assistant executive director of Sigma Nu Fraternity Inc.

Mary Washington College has a program called Night Haven, said student Brian Roinestad, who runs the program. Intoxicated underage students picked up by police or university officials have the option of spending the night in jail - and paying a $70 fine - or sleeping it off at Night Haven, where they're monitored by other students.

Intoxicated students are not permitted to leave Night Haven until their blood alcohol level decreases to 0.02 percent - the legal limit for those under 21, Roinestad said. Those students will then face college judiciary charges. A level of up to 0.02 is allowed, to account for statistical error, cough medicines, etc.

At Washington and Lee University, intoxicated students may report to a 24-hour student health center for medical attention or monitoring - without fear of criminal or student judiciary punishment, said Dr. Jane T. Horton, health services director.

Caring for severely intoxicated students can be a matter of life and death.

Benjamin Wynne, 20, died Aug. 26 after a party at Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity at Louisiana State University. Wynne's blood alcohol level was 0.588 percent - nearly 30 times the legal limit for someone under 21.

Then, on Monday, Massachusetts Institute of Technology freshman Scott Krueger died after being found unconscious in a basement room of the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity house. The medical examiner said Krueger, 18, died of an alcohol overdose. His blood alcohol level had reached 0.41 percent.

George Mason University Professor David Anderson last year compiled 150 of the best approaches in a book called ``Promising Practices: Campus Alcohol Strategies.'' He is updating that book with an additional 50 to 75 ideas in an edition to be published in November.

Yet some of those attending the three-day conference admitted that campuses may never be rid of the keg parties and drinking games that many students see as a rite of passage into adulthood.

``You'll always have people who only drink at parties, and who always have eight or more drinks,'' said Aaron Michalove, a senior at Washington and Lee.

Even targeting freshmen during their first days of college may not be enough.

``Our problem starts before they even get here,'' said Washington and Lee senior Catherine Haddock. ``They're targeted with parties when they visit the schools.''

Norfolk State University student Maurice Hawkins said that only a massive attitude change on the part of students will keep them from binge drinking.

Young people ``equate drinking with being an adult,'' Hawkins said. ``We need to create programs where they can feel like adults without drinking.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo

VICKI CRONIS/The Virginian-Pilot

Becca Castongvay, a freshman at Shenandoah University, was among

those searching for ways to combat binge drinking by college

students.

TO LEARN MORE

``Promising Practices'' may be viewed on the Internet at

http://www.promprac.gmu.edu.

For copies, write to George Mason University Center for the

Advancement of Public Health, Fairfax, VA 22030, or call (703)

993-3697.