Alcohol plays a big role in campus crime

Absent in the conversation about the University of Iowa and the football players gone wild is any serious discussion of alcohol's role in campus crime.

By any measure, it's considerable.

The university police department filed 535 charges against students in 2007. Four hundred sixty-seven -- 87 percent -- were alcohol- or drug-related.

Let's break it down: 236 were for public intoxication, 86 were liquor-law violations, 38 were for drunken driving.

When you're talking about alcohol-related "incidents" on campus, the number topped 1,000 for the fifth year in a row in 2007. While that might not seem like an epidemic at a school with 30,000 students, these are the incidents we know about.

If you look at the 18 football players arrested since April 2007, nine of the 23 charges were directly related to alcohol. How many others were indirectly related?

How many across campus? How many disorderly conducts? How many interferences with official acts, assaults, thefts?

Going by campus police interviews, it now looks as if alcohol played a part in the high-profile alleged sexual assault of a female student last fall.

The alleged victim told the campus officer she was an inexperienced drinker, a "lightweight," according to the report, who drank too much coconut rum too quickly on the night in question.

I know, I know. It's college. Students drink, many to excess. I did, you did. OK, maybe you didn't, which could be why I didn't know you.

But still, there is such a thing as the culture of alcohol getting out of hand, harming lives and damaging the reputation of the university.

On Monday, the Princeton Review came out with a survey of college students that ranked Iowa the No. 12 party school in the country, No. 3 in "Lots of Hard Liquor" and No. 11 in "Lots of Beer."

Remember, this isn't a scientific study and should be used for recreational purposes only. How did Iowa State, for instance, end up 17th in "Professors Get Low Marks?"

It could be worse. They could be Illinois, which topped off its No. 16 party-school ranking with an appearance in the "Students Study the Least" category.

But back up. I said it's time for a serious discussion. Let's look at some findings from the Harvard School of Public Health College Alcohol Study, which says binge drinking varies widely from college to college and that campus environment can affect student behavior.

Is it easy to get alcohol? Is it a "wet" environment with many stores offering low prices and special promotions?

If so, the Harvard study project director says, the conditions are ripe for heavy drinking: "If colleges can change those conditions, they can reduce binge drinking among their students."

Is Iowa doing anything to change the culture? Three years ago, the university implemented a mandatory interactive online "AlcoholEdu" course for incoming freshmen.

Iowa (and Luther College in Decorah) is one of 900 or so institutions that use the program. Iowa is the first Big Ten Conference school to adopt the course. Students must complete the course before they're allowed to register for spring classes.

Independent studies indicate the program has a positive effect on behavior, especially among first-year students.

That said, one such study concluded that "AlcoholEdu" is more effective as one of many tools to reduce the damage associated with heavy alcohol use.

What else should be done? Suggestions: Crack down. Change the rules. After the first alcohol-related offense, notify the parents and require the student to pass an alcohol education course.

Second offense, mandatory suspension. Third offense, expulsion.

Get together with the county attorney, the campus and city police chiefs. Go to every bar in town and remind the owners about the Dram Shop Act in the Iowa Code, which holds owners responsible for damage done by alcohol-impaired patrons.

Tell the bar owners you'll do everything in your power to make sure the law is enforced.

Return Friday to the workweek. Schedule the most popular courses and the required classes on Friday to keep the weekend from starting Thursday night.

Do this to show the students you mean business. Unless, of course, you don't.

Des Moines Register