In the past few weeks, there has been significant statewide coverage of the debate surrounding the Amethyst Initiative, an initiative led by college presidents and chancellors to call upon elected officials to weigh all the consequences of current alcohol policies and to invite new ideas on how best to prepare young adults to make responsible decisions about alcohol use.  As I mentioned in my State of the College address, I believe this is a critically important issue on college campuses and one that presidents and legislators must address together.  As promised, below is my op-ed piece that ran in the Courier News on Sunday, September 21, 2008.  You will also find the Channel 9 News Clip  that again focuses on the debate in New Jersey.

THE REAL PROBLEMS OF COLLEGE DRINKING

 Peter P. Mercer

However, the most important issues surrounding excessive and underage student drinking are, for me and my fellow presidents, not legal.  Of much greater concern are the potential adverse consequences to the students themselves. Nationally almost 2,000 college students between the ages of 18 and 24 die each year from unintentional injuries in which alcohol was a factor. Additional hundreds of thousands of students are injured; many of them seriously. These deaths and injuries are avoidable.

Every empirical study I have seen in 25 years of studying the issue in Canada and the United States confirms that there is a direct relationship between the legal drinking age and the incidence of alcohol-related death and injury. For that reason, I would not support any reduction in the legal drinking age. This was one of the alternatives posited by the Amethyst Initiative as a way of combating underage and binge drinking. It is unfortunate that the drinking age has attracted the most attention, especially since it seems doubtful that lowering the drinking age would lead to any appreciable amelioration of the most serious consequences.

In the first place, patterns of high-risk drinking behavior are already typically well-established before students arrive at college. Findings from the Harvard School of Public Health College Alcohol Study, published in the Journal of American College Health (Volume 50, No.5, 223-236), state that in 2001, 43.6% of underage college students were classified as binge drinkers, meaning consumption of at least five drinks in a row for men or four drinks in a row for women during the two weeks before completion of the study questionnaire. The vast majority of these began drinking in high school and, increasingly, underage drinking and binge drinking are regularly occurring as low as the eighth grade or earlier.

 The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse has found that the reported first use of alcohol went from age 17 ½ in 1965 to 14 in 2003. Research further shows that the earlier students begin consuming alcohol, the more likely they will engage in behavior harmful to themselves and others.

Clearly this problem is as wide-ranging as the adverse consequences it brings about. Unsafe sexual practices, sexual abuse, health problems, drunk driving, property damage, vandalism, assault and alcohol dependence can all be added to the list. And then there is the often less visible but very real matter of academic consequences. In the 1980’s I reviewed thousands of files from students applying to Canadian law schools. Hundreds of those revealed a similar pattern: poor grades in the freshman year, a modest GPA increase in the sophomore year and then substantial improvement in the junior and senior years. Usually no explanation would be given for this other than a vague reference to “problems of adjustment.”  Requests for a more detailed explanation typically yielded a rueful account of how the first year and a half of college were spent in a beery fog before reality intervened. Sadly too late for those whose grades, averaged over four years, were uncompetitive for law school or graduate school and who had to lower their expectations as a result. What a waste of human capital, individually sad but cumulatively tragic.

How do we as a society deal with this? Senate President Codey has asked New Jersey’s Colleges to provide details of their alcohol policies. It is a fair request and one to which we should be glad to respond given the extensive policy frameworks, policing regimens, educational programs and health intervention measures we have developed. More importantly, it holds out the opportunity to frame the discussion properly.

Why are so many – but by no means all- college students acculturated to abusing alcohol? It can’t just be about “adjustment” and new-found freedom since many of our students are sophisticated and experienced in ways that previous generations were not. We also need to go further and ask why alcohol abuse has been matched by a similar abuse of prescription pain relievers, tranquilizers, stimulants and sedatives.  And why are these drugs so accessible?

I and my fellow presidents look forward to making progress in answering these questions.

Welcome Back Ramapo College! This past week was filled with welcome-back receptions, greeting those who are new to the campus, catching up with those who are returning and checking in with those who were here throughout the summer.

Monday September 1^st- Freshman Move-In Day

Finally, the waiting was over and the calm of July and August was replaced by the crackling energy of Labor Day morning as cars lined up Route 202 to drop-off and move in the Ramapo College Class of 2012.  Accompanied by my niece's dog Whistler, I walked the campus visiting the residence halls and speaking with parents and students as they unloaded televisions, ipod docking stations, five years' worth of clothing and boxes of pre-college life photos into their new rooms.  The compelling mix of excitement and anxiety that radiates both from our students and their families marks the unofficial beginning of the 2008-2009 academic year. 

As I addressed the incoming freshman class and then shook their hands as they proceeded through the Ramapo arch, I considered how the group was thus transformed from a data set into the 887 strong Class of 2012 which will leave its mark on Ramapo College.  I want to offer a special thank you to the Offices of First -Year Experience, Residence Life, Facilities, Housekeeping, Public Safety, Student Affairs, Enrollment Management and Admissions for organizing, setting up, and executing a wonderful Move-In experience and First Year Assembly.

(To see my remarks to the Class of 2012, click here.)

Tuesday September 2^nd - Upperclassman Move-In Day

On Tuesday, the current of energy initiated by the freshmen tripled as the sophomores, juniors and seniors returned to campus.  The change in attitude and priorities among students who have already lived in a residence hall is quite noticeable.  Arranging a room and unloading the car gave way to greeting old roommates, classmates and friends to compare summers and share expectations for the upcoming year.  In a day rounded out by the Annual Roadrunner Picnic and a visit from the cast of The Real World, all four Ramapo classes congregated and shared their first night as a campus. 

Wednesday September 3^rd - Welcome Back Faculty Reception

On Wednesday, Jackie and I hosted a reception at the Havemeyer House to welcome the faculty back to campus and celebrate the first day of classes.  More than 70 faculty members attended, both new and returning, and it was a pleasure to see them and talk about the coming year. I was particularly impressed by the buoyancy of the faculty and their sense of optimism as they look toward the future, an optimism that I share.

Thursday September 4^th - Welcome Back Staff Reception

For the first time, Jackie and I also hosted a reception for all of the Ramapo staff whose efforts are so essential to the college's operation.  This reception also provided me the opportunity to introduce a new Staff Awards Program, an idea that stemmed from the six sessions Dr. Anne Kearns facilitated in the spring of last year.  These awards will not only recognize the leadership and exemplary service of our staff, but will also affirm a culture that places high value on employee effort and achievement.  These awards will be implemented for the 2008-2009 Academic Year and will be presented at the June Board of Trustees meeting.  We will also create plaques inscribed with winners' names, which will hang in a highly visible spot on campus.  While I am still working with the unit directors to develop the mechanism by which the recipients will be selected, I announced the following awards:

1. The Staff Leadership Award (One will be awarded to each classification of employee - Manager, Professional Unionized Staff and Other Unionized Staff):

Awarded to a Ramapo College staff member who, in that academic year, has assumed a leadership role and successfully effected positive change.

2. The Staff Excellence in Service Award:

Awarded to an individual or group who, in that academic year, provided exemplary customer service.