4A
Wednesday, March 8, 1995
OPINION
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
VIEWPOINT
THE ISSUE: ALCOHOL AND STUDENTS
Binge drinking a risky trend
Can you believe the irony? College students, obsessed with exercise and healthy eating, often ignore, as if by conspiracy, a major health hazard alcoholism manifested by a lifestyle centered around the binge.
The current trend of binge drinking is a dangerous and potentially addictive practice that needs to be curtailed. While alcohol consumption at the University of Kansas generally follows the national trend, the trend itself may be abnormal.
Drinking has been going on at colleges and universities for many, many years, and it will not stop in the foreseeable future. Binge drinking is often treated as a rite of passage. College provides the opportunity to explore new behavior, and we are encouraged to participate in the many lifestyles surrounding us.
However, sometimes we are confronted with experiences that we are ill-equipped to control. And that is why binge drinking is such an alarming problem.
Some students will go through college, have a great time, graduate and pursue their dreams without ever having an alcohol-related problem. They may be binge drinkers in college, but they will leave it behind them when they move on. But for many others, binge drinking will become the norm. They come to college and, whether they drank before, begin to see heavy drinking as appropriate. About half of them, by some estimates, experience recurrent drinking-related problems and many continue to drink excessively for most of their lives.
For these unfortunate students, the rite of passage becomes a dead end. Bright students sometimes fail to get the grades they are capable of because they choose to drink instead of study. Others become more sexually aggressive than
College gives students the opportunity to try new experiences, but theparty life can turn tragic for some
would ever occur when sober. And some have an unusual number of fender benders. We all know this behavior is abnormal — if it weren't, it wouldn't occur more than once or twice before a sensible student would change.
According to a recent study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, the percentage of college aged "frequent-heavy" drinkers remained constant, from 1977 to 1989, around 30 percent for men and 13 percent for women, but today's students get intoxicated more often and are more motivated to drink to get drunk. The number of students who said "to get drunk" was a "somewhat" or "very important" reason for drinking was two to three times as high in 1989 as in 1977. The stability over time of the prevalence of frequent, heavy drinking among college students indicates an apparent failure of both social and institutional policies to alter this behavior.
Binge drinkers are not the only ones affected either.
Students at schools with higher proportions of binge drinkers are more likely to be assaulted or experience unwanted sexual advances than others.
Isn't it time for us to begin to notice our friends that drink too much and say something to them? Shouldn't we begin to accept the fact that heavy drinking is not a healthy lifestyle choice?
As long as college students preserve the misconception that binge drinking is normal, the trend cannot be subdued. Until we step back and admit that this behavior is abnormal and life threatening, we cannot hope to reverse the affliction.
CHRIS VINE FOR THE EDITORIAL BOARD
KANSAN STAFF
STEPHEN MARTINO
Editor
DENISE NEIL
Managing editor
TOM EBLEN
General manager, news adviser
CATHERINE ELLSWORTH
Technology coordinator
JENNIFER PERRIER
Business manager
MARK MASTRO
Retail sales manager
JAYSTEINER
Sales and marketing adviser
Robert Tapley / KANSAN
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Associate Editorial...Heather Lawrenz
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Colleen McCain
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Affirmative action combats difficulty with opportunity
Just another night
It doesn't matter if an employee or a student was accepted under the auspices of an affirmative action program; what matters is what he or she does once in his or her position. For example, once in medical school, all students need to pass the same exams and fulfill the same requirements. If an affirmative action student can do that, then does it really matter if he or she took the place of another minority with higher MCAT scores? I think not. The people who most often cry out against affirmative action and claim that it is "reverse discrimination" are rejected white applicants looking to justify themselves. This reveals more about character flaw than it does about reverse discrimination, whatever that is.
In recent weeks there has been a revival of anti-affirmative action sentiments across the country. Presidential candidates Bob Dole and Phil Gramm (among others) have called for a reassessment of affirmative action programs, and there are plans to introduce a ballot initiative in California that will call for the abolishment of such programs. This tidal wave of anti-affirmative action attitudes even has made its way to the University of Kansas: A recent editorial in the Kansan eloquently expressed the viewpoint that affirmative action was not the way to combat inequalities. The authors of the editorial claimed that affirmative action "serves to foster racism rather than to prevent it" and "does not prepare minority groups in a way that fosters competition based on their own merit." They asserted that affirmative action is reverse discrimination and that these programs are detrimental to race relations.
not only income and educational obstacles but also language barriers. With these hardships, and a plethora of others, it is no wonder that minorities do not tend to score as high on standardized exams or do as well in school as their white counterparts. Genetics has nothing to do with it. I'm shocked that the president of Rutgers University would even suggest such a thing. Living environment, education and economic opportunities are the key factors that determine success. Racial and ethnic discrimination persists in our society, the only difference between now and 30 or more years ago is that it is illegal, and it usually is not out in the open.
I find it rather ironic that during a month in which we celebrated the abundant contributions of African Americans to our society, there were politicians, grass-roots organizations, and even university newspapers advocating the revocation of programs that provide racial and ethnic minorities with opportunities they otherwise would not have. Anti-affirmative action activists seem to believe that institutional racism no longer exists and that minorities have the same opportunities as the white population to be hired for professional jobs or to be accepted into universities. They also seem to believe that if minorities are employed or accepted into
GUEST COLUMNIST
Affirmative action combats the difficulties
graduate/professional schools through affirmative action programs, then they are less qualified than other applicants, and they are "taking the place of someone who is more qualified" (and presumably white).
more qualified white applicants at such an alarming rate that it would foster racism, then can someone please explain to me why there is such a minuscule percentage of minorities attending universities? Or why are fewer minorities receiving master's degrees and Ph.D.'s today than 20 or 30 years ago? Or why are the overwhelming majority of political leaders, business executives, lawyers, doctors and professors white?
If this is all true, and minorities are displacing
Those who believe that affirmative action programs should be extinguished should understand a few things before they denounce it. First, the unfortunate reality is that African Americans and Hispanics face distinct hardships, from the moment they are born until the day they die, that whites do not. One only has to examine income data of these two groups to realize that they trail significantly behind the white population. Less family income usually translates into fewer educational opportunities, which in turn leads to fewer economic opportunities. Hispanics, in particular, face
EDITORIAL EDITOR
Some of us got time out. That never worked. Most kids don't have a problem getting up and walking off or walking around holding the chair up against the backside. No, you didn't originate that one. Others
Robert G. Rodriguez is an Orange County, Ca., graduate student in political science.
heard, "You wait 'til your father/mother gets home." Not a good one either. Most kids have the memory of a poodle, which isn't very good. So waiting until sundown is like putting Spanky's nose in the doo a few hours later. Maybe some heard firm words or ileth threats.
Republicans gain recruits from childhood spankings
The Democrats, no doubt concerned about the '96 election, must not have wanted parolees coming out of jail wanting to campaign for Rush.
Even though the current trend in the United States is to avoid physical discipline, some of us got a wallop on the rear every time we were naughty.
Come to think of it, the Mississippi legislature just struck down a bill that would have made paddling prison inmates a legal and acceptable form of punishment.
Ever get whipped when you were a kid?
Now, ask yourself another question: Are you a Republican?
You know, cross the street without looking, feed your sister a mud cake and tell her it's chocolate, share the latest body part.
How about plunked on the head, spanked or otherwise physically disciplined?
latest body part term you learned at school. Then what?
Recently released research suggests that the more you get spanked as a child, the more likely you are to become politically conservative.
How about that? Yellow-dog Republicans now have a way, a specific formula even, to ensure their legacy. The voters of the '80s must have gotten it but good.
If you answered "Ofcourse," and "I love Newt" to these questions, you're not alone.
But I think the hugs and kisses crowd had something else in mind. They thought they'd found a way to stop the flow of all the Newts, Doles, and Gramm into the world of politics.
Not to make light of abusive situations. Child abuse, in fact, is part of what those who jump on current wave of relenting on punishment intend to prevent.
Matt Gowen is a Lawrence senior in journalism.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Greeks' comments taken the wrong way
Holly Heckathorn Columbia, Md., senior
We are writing this letter in regard to the article written in the Feb. 20 edition of the Kansan titled "Greeks shake a leg for lost children." We would like to emphasize the fact that Delta Chi and Gamma Phi Beta did a wonderful job organizing the Dance-A-Thon, which benefits the Lost Child Network. The event went toward a great cause, and we are proud to have been a part of the philanthropy. It is unfortunate that our comments and intentions were misunderstood. We had a lot more fun than was reflected in the article. Our experience was positive and any action to help save another lost child is worth the effort. The Dance-A-Thon can count on our participation in the future.
Amy Monson Leawood sophomore
Sarah Carson Tulsa, Okla., sophomore
Rutgers president should be disciplined
As a former student at Rutgers University, I am unable to view as forgivingly as the Kansan editorial board the recent remarks of Rutgers University President Francis Lawrence. My reading of "...do we deal with a disadvantaged population that doesn't have that genetic hereditary background to have a higher average..." leads me to conclude that Dr. Lawrence considers the "disadvantage" of African Americans a direct consequence of a sub-par gene pool rather than the fact that there have been systematic biases in the methods used to evaluate intellectual aptitude. Although Dr. Lawrence's past record of promoting minorities at
On the basis of that track record, Dr. Lawrence deserves an opportunity for redemption, but to excuse such remarks, as the editorial board does, as "extemporaneous," or "not to be taken literally," is to take too lightly the charge and responsibility of the office of a university president. Such comments, at the very least, deserve censure. If they truly are representative of Dr. Lawrence's attitudes, they rightfully should be grounds for dismissal.
Rutgers is at first glance commendable, his remarks make one wonder whether apparently affirmative measures in the past mask a patronizing attitude towards African Americans or, more cynically, represent an attempt to pacify what historically has been among the largest and most militant student bodies in the country.
Dave Besson Assistant professor of physics and astronomy
How to submit letters and guest columns
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All letters and guest columns should be submitted to the Kansan newsroom, 111 Staufer-Flint Hall. The Kansan reserves the right to edit, out to length or out-right reject all submissions. For any questions, call Matt Gowen, editorial page editor, or Heather Lawrenz, associate editorial page editor, at 864-4B10.
MIXED MEDIA
By Jack Ohman