2008 Woodie Awards
Forum discusses drinking culture
Rebecca Kelley
Issue date: 4/4/08 Section: Front Page
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The meeting on underage drinking was held by the Coalition for a Healthy Community and the Miami Office of Health Education to address the alcohol problems in the community.
"The purpose ... is to bring together pertinent and relevant people that have a stake in underage drinking issues in the community," said Gail Walenga, assistant vice president of Miami's Student Health Services.
The meeting drew many parents of students in the Talawanda School District, as well as interested community members and Miami students.
One of the main concerns discussed at the meeting was the atmosphere at Miami being very conducive to underage alcohol consumption.
According to Leslie Haxby McNeill, acting director of student health education at Miami, the university has a significantly higher rate of students entering the school that have already begun drinking, a quality McNeill said is not present at all universities.
"That's a question of, 'How do you create a culture like that?'" McNeill asked.
The high percentage of students involved in Greek life was discussed as a possible reason for this high amount of underage drinking, identified by many students as a potential route to obtain alcohol underage.
Sgt. Jim Squance of the Oxford Police Department did not agree that fraternities are a contributor to the underage drinking problem.
"Most of the fraternities are substance free," Squance said.
According to Squance, fraternities and sororities on campus obey alcohol laws significantly more often than the rest of campus.
"I think the fraternities and sororities are much more diligent," Squance said. "Better than the general population at Miami."
Squance attributes this diligence to Miami's regulation of the Greek system. Squance said that in years past, drinking problems at Miami have been out of control, but the university has made recent attempts to keep the drinking down to a minimum.
"I think that fraternities in the past couple of years have really been regulated by the university," Squance said.
Viewing Comments 1 - 3 of 3
Robert Karrow
posted 4/04/08 @ 8:01 AM EST
The immediate past president of Middlebury College last year began "Choose Responsibility," a national foundation interested in investigating the consequences of the 21 year-old drinking age. (Continued…)
Robert Karrow
posted 4/04/08 @ 8:06 AM EST
The Web site for Choose Responsibility is: http://www.chooseresponsibility.org/
An old Redskin
posted 4/04/08 @ 1:16 PM EST
If my fading memory serves me, Miami students drank a lot in the early seventies. You could drink in the Boar's Head or Mac and Joes at 18. However, it was only 3. (Continued…)
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