Some Progress on Campus

I happened to be visiting Ramapo College in New Jersey the other evening and, in a hallway outside a counseling office, passed this display of literature aimed at reducing college drinking.  Didn't have a chance to meet the counselor or ask questions, but it looked like a big step forward from my college days (eons ago).  The bulletin board display points out that a large majority of students think that college students are heavy drinkers, whereas in fact, most students drink lightly.  The false expectation likely promotes heavy drinking behavior and the accurate survey tends to put on the brakes.  The display also includes handouts on alcohol and related issues. If material of this kind, backed by a proactive counseling staff and supported by the administration, had been available in my day, I might (might) have been spared three decades of alcoholic drinking.  

Congratulations to Barack Obama

As a college student at Wesleyan in '61 (or was it '62?) I joined with other white students to team with groups of black students from Howard University in an effort to integrate lunch counters in Glen Burnie, a suburb of Baltimore.  In some places we sat indefinitely without being served; in one, we were served coffee with salt in it; at another they locked the doors as we approached.  When we picketed the segregated local movie theatre, a mob of white men surrounded us as sheriffs watched.  A providential cloudburst scattered the crowd and allowed us to escape.  

On the night of election day in 1964, I arrived at the civil rights movement headquarters in Jackson, Mississippi, to begin a few months of volunteer work.  Nearly everyone was glued to the TV set to see whether the Democratic Party would seat the elected black delegates running under the banner of the Freedom Democratic Party.  The answer was, no.  

These and other memories came upwelling as I watched the inauguration of Barack Obama.   The party that wouldn't seat elected black delegates had nominated a black man for president.  A man whose father would not have been served at DC area restaurants 60 years ago was taking the oath of office.   Indeed, there has been some changes.

This morning's San Francisco Chronicle editorializes that Obama's new approach is "grounded in sobriety and hard work."  The "sobriety" that's meant here is, I assume, the metaphorical kind -- a pragmatic, realistic attitude -- and not the literal kind, meaning abstinence from alcoholic drink.  Yet there's a connection to reflect on, here.  

For me, personally, my time of active engagement in the civil rights movement was largely a time when my alcoholism (acquired in my freshman year in college) was in remission.  Engagement in life-changing work was hugely more interesting than drink.  My drinking habit only bloomed large during the years of reaction that followed, when it seemed that everything we had done was being undone.  Pessimism, despair, lack of hope were the atmosphere in which this illness flourished.  And I'm not the only one.  Is it an accident that the drug problem grew larger in rough proportion as conditions for the poor and middle class in America stagnated and deteriorated?  

Barack Obama's own history with alcohol and other drugs offers a refreshing contrast to that of his predecessor in office.  Obama has freely and openly admitted experimenting with drugs as a youth, but then stopped; he is trying to quit, or has quit, smoking.  What a contrast to the history of "W," whose claimed mid-life alcohol salvation story is widely believed to be a sham that covered up more than it revealed, notably a long history of cocaine use, some say.  

I've not yet seen anything in the way of Obama's statements so far that gives a clue to his specific policies on alcoholism and other addictions.  The federal government has many levers to pull and many dollars to spend in this area.  On general principles, I assume that Obama will support the recent extension of parity in the treatment of mental health and addiction treatment.  I assume that the federal agencies in this area will continue to be funded.  

The open questions in my mind are (a)  War on Drugs, and (b) Federal excise taxes on spirits and tobacco.  We need "change we can believe in" in the "war on drugs," a criminal exercise in hypocrisy and racial/economic persecution that is long overdue for radical reform.  An even more telling mark of Obama's mettle will be whether he supports Congressional action to raise the excise taxes on liquor and tobacco.  Public health advocates have long maintained that raising these taxes is the single most effective measure to reduce the social impact of these two most murderous addictive drugs.  Needless to say, the pillars of corporate greed stand deeply dug in on this issue.

The largest opening in the clouds under this new administration will be in the area of improving living standards and reducing inequities for the poor and middle class.  If the real and emotional environment of ordinary people in this country becomes infused with progress and hope, the problems of alcohol and other drugs will recede as if of their own accord.  It will take some time, but if the new administration succeeds in this largest and most difficult of goals, we will, in fact, see a new era of "sobriety" in both senses of the word.

Congratulations to President Barack Obama, and best wishes for the future.

P.S.  To date, the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy remains under an interim head, Patrick Ward, a Bush appointee who has held the post a bit over a year.  Obama's choice of Rep. Jim Ramstad to become the new Drug Czar has run into heavy fire for Ramstad's ties to abusive "faith-based" programs, his policy positions on prevention, and his ties to a massive investor fraud.  Read Maia Szalavitz's blog blast and the Drug Policy Alliance editorial.  Ramstad is not change, he's MOTSOS.  

College profs modeling alcoholism for students?

College students' drinking excesses continue to make news. A prof at R.Y.S. (wherever that may be) points out in his or her blog that the students may just be copying their profs.

"Can we acknowledge that there is a huge amount of alcoholism in academia? Not the cute Dudley Moore kind, but the kind that makes us less sharp and ends our lives early? I'd imagine every one of us knows a colleague who needs a mid-morning 'refresher' or who always smells slightly of drink. I remember seeing my supervisor trying to be inconspicuous checking all the (empty) wine bottles at a reception, hoping there was a glass left in one of them, and finally making a glass by combining all the remnants red and white wine that were left. I remember drinking with him at a local bar until well past midnight (having started at four). And is there any function in academia that doesn't involve alcohol?"

Read the whole thing. Good point. A college administration trying to cope with its students' alcohol excesses needs also to look in the mirror. It'll be hard to get a handle on student conduct if the faculty's drinking is out of control.

Annapolis: New rules decimate drinking

Donny Bailey, manager of a bar and restaurant popular with students at the Naval Academy in Annapolis says "Drinking has declined so much, it's scary. They can't drink 20 shots like they used to. Ever since the rape last year, it's gone down. They just get in too much trouble."

Following a series of sexual crimes linked with alcohol last fall, the Academy adopted new rules that prohibit all underage drinking. Students over 21 are limited to one drink per hour and three drinks on any given evening, not to exceed 0.08 blood-alcohol content, the legal standard for drunken driving in Maryland and many other states.

Those who fail random breath tests are counseled the first time, but those caught twice, or with higher than a 0.15 blood-alcohol content, can be disciplined with restriction to the dorm, 5 a.m. marches and even expulsion. Academy authorities said that enforcement has been strict and effective.

In a recent memo, the student drug and alcohol coordinator warned of infractions and urged students to take the policy to heart. Source.

Mom sues frat, college over boy's alcohol death

Boulder, CO: The mother of Gordy Bailey (photo), a Colorado University freshman who died of alcohol poisoning at a fraternity initiation in 2004, is suing the fraternity and the university for negligence and reckless misconduct.

A superior court judge has ruled that the lawsuit can go ahead and has set a March 2008 trial date. Source.

A coroner revealed that after Bailey had passed out, his fraternity brothers marked up his arms, legs and trunk with racial and sexual slurs, said the young man's father, Lynn Gordon Bailey.

"This reinforces the nearly unbearable pain of the whole thing," Bailey said. "Was he dying while they were writing that?"

When it became apparent that the 18-year-old was not breathing, and police were going to be called in to investigate, someone tried to wipe off the slurs that were written on his face with a felt-tip marker, police said. Source.

Bailey's death has similarities to the fate of Phanta "Jack" Phoumarrath at the University of Texas, Austin. Link.

Star USC kicker falls off cliff drunk

Los Angeles: University of Southern California star field goal kicker Mario Danelo was drunk when he plunged over a cliff to his death, the coroner's office said Jan. 9. His blood-alcohol level was 0.23, nearly three times the legal limit in California.

Danelo, 21, was found Jan. 6 more than 100 feet down a rocky cliff in San Pedro.

Danelo made 15 of 16 field goals this season and led the Trojans in scoring with 89 points. He made two field goals in the Rose Bowl on New Year's Day to help USC beat Michigan 32-18. Source.

Colorado lecturer dies drunk in snow

A University of Northern Colorado sociology lecturer who was found dead in a snow bank at the Foothills Unitarian Church in Fort Collins died of hypothermia due to acute alcohol intoxication, the Larimer County Coroner’s Office ruled today.

She was reported missing on Jan. 2 by her husband after having last been seen New Year’s Eve.

Four children playing at the church before services almost a month later saw her body partially covered by snow. They called a parent, who notified police.

Family members said Wilkins-Wells was believed to have been headed to church the day she went missing. The family belongs to Foothills Unitarian, which is about two miles from their home.

Wilkins-Wells had been a sociology lecturer at UNC since August 1992, specializing in minority relations and community planning.

Katie Wilkins-Wells said that her mother had started having problems with alcoholism two years ago and had joined Alcoholics Anonymous. Source.

Student dies of alcohol OD, college clams up

York, PA: Victoria Hickman, an 18-year old freshman from Pennsauken NJ who was found dead in her dorm room, died of a massive alcohol overdose, medical examiners said Jan. 25. Her blood alcohol content was 0.33 per cent, more than four times the legal limit for driving in the state.

Contacted with the medical results, York College spokesman David Salter said "No comment."
Source.

Campaign knocks drinking games off shelves

Three of the nation's larger retailers -- Kohl's, Target, and Linen's & Things -- have removed board games that encouraged binge drinking, following a coordinated public opinion campaign aimed at curbing underage alcohol consumption.

The games, with names such as Shots 'n Ladders, Drinko, and Keg Pong, are takeoffs on popular children's board games, but players take drinks instead of accumulating points. Details.

Spearheading the public opinion campaign were local groups such as the Oregon Partnership with coordination by national groups like Join Together, the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), and Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America (CADCA).

More on the campaign.

Frat brothers defaced dead boy with magic markers

His lifeless body was defaced with offensive remarks from head to toe.

That's what an autopsy released Tuesday Jan. 9 2007 shows happened to Phanta "Jack" Phoumarrath, the University of Texas (Austin) fraternity member who died of alcohol poisoning in 2005.

It also shows his blood alcohol content was five times the legal limit.

Some members of Lambda Phi Epsilon have been indicted in his death.

The family's attorney says the suspects seem to have spent a considerable amount of time drawing on Jack, when they could have been helping him instead.

"They wrote a variety of things, most of which would be considered juvenile. Some of which were lewd. It was disappointing and certainly discouraging to the family that people who hold themselves out as fraternity brothers would do something like this," Phoummarath family attorney Randy Sorrels said.

UT suspended Lambda Phi Epsilon as a registered student organization until 2011, after determining that hazing had occurred. Source.

Many of the epithets scrawled on Jack's body were homophobic. Source.

Drunk freshman kills campus cop

Robert Langley was an Iraq vet who came home alive to work as a campus cop at the University of Mississippi. He died of head injuries inflicted by a pickup truck with Ole Miss freshman Daniel Cummings at the wheel. Cummings tested positive for alcohol, marijuana and cocaine, according to a year-end story in the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal.

Responding to the death, University authorities deplored a "culture of alcohol" and called for a study group to come up with recommendations. The local Baptist church called for prayers and condemned a climate of "moral indecency." Translation: after the handwringing, nothing will change.

Frat culture takes another life

Dallas: Jacob Stiles, 20, who was found dead inside his Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity house at Southern Methodist University earlier this month, died of a lethal combination of alcohol and drugs, medical examiners said today, following an autopsy. Source.

Stiles had been a lifeguard and swim team member at White Eagle Country Club in Naperville and varsity swimmer at Neuqua Valley High School, his alma mater. Source. At SMU, Stiles won the title of Mr. University (photo) in a fund-raising pageant held by the Pi Beta Phi sorority earlier this year. Source.

Students defeat trademark for "Cocaine" drink

A group of law students at Cleveland State University's College of Law shot down an application by a Las Vegas company to register "Cocaine" as a federal trademark for a soft drink. Enrolled in Prof. Michael Davis' intellectual property class, the students filed an opposition to the application on the ground that the proposed mark was 'immoral and scandalous,' a statutory ground for refusal. After initially approving the application, the Trademark Office reversed itself and issued a denial, subject to appeal.

According to Irina Vinogradsky and Angela Simmons, they and the three other students were partly motivated by personal feelings against the name “Cocaine.” “It’s not just academic to everyone in the group,” said Ms. Vinogradsky, adding that the students shared a “very strong feeling that it’s immoral.”

Read details in the New York Times. The students also claimed that the label was deceptive. The maker claims that the drink contains 280 mg of caffeine plus a confidential ingredient that supposedly provides a lasting "energy buzz." Source.

The drink's inventor, James Kirby, 42, says, “We had little money for marketing and advertising, so we chose a way to get as much as we could for free." The strategy worked; the notoriety and controversy surrounding the name got priceless headlines, including the New York Times story.

The Food and Drug Administration hasn't been heard from yet. You can't legally label iced tea "Whiskey." And the Coca-Cola Company hasn't weighed in yet, either; Kirby's new bright red beverage containers bear a remarkable resemblance to Coke, whose original formula actually contained what Kirby's drink only pretends to.

For one trademark lawyer's commentary, see this blog.

College alcohol culture claims another victim

Exeter, UK: Gavin Britton, an 18-year old Exeter University student whose MySpace website featured photos of himself chugging alcohol (right) has died from alcohol poisoning. Source.

Rape victim rejects 9th step "amends"

A woman who was raped at a college frat party in 1984 rejected the offender's bid to "make amends" under the ninth step of the Alcoholics Anonymous program.

Liz Seccuro (photo), 39, together with her husband and a number of sorority sisters, stood in a Charlottesville court room yesterday and avoided the eyes of her assailant, William Beebe. Outside court, Seccuro said tearfully, "I think that the idea of closure for any victim of a sexual assault is not reality. There is never closure."

Beebe sent Seccuro a letter last year confessing to the rape as part of his AA ninth step work, which requires "making amends" to persons harmed. After several email exchanges, Seccuro turned the correspondence over to prosecutors, who had Beebe extradited from his home in Nevada and brought to stand trial in Virginia. Beebe may not have known at the time he sent his letter that there is no statute of limitations for felonies in Virginia.

In court, Beebe pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of aggravated sexual battery, and will face a possible two years in prison. He was originally charged with rape and sexual penetration with an object, charges that carried the possibility of life in prison.

Seccuro spoke out about her experience and founded an organization called STARS -- Sisters Together Assisting Rape Survivors -- to raise money for programs helping rape victims and their families. Read Liz Seccuro's story in her own words here.

Epilogue, Jan. 25 2007: More details of the crime, Seccuro's feelings following court hearings: Rapist's quest for forgiveness revives victim's worst nightmare, here.

Federal judge turns against crack penalties

A federal judge who led the move to impose harsh penalties for crack cocaine under the first Bush administration has turned around and now condemns the sentencing rules as "unconscionable."

US District Judge Reggie B. Walton told the US Sentencing Commission that federal laws requiring dramatically longer sentences for crack cocaine than for cocaine powder led to the perception within minority communities that courts are unfair.

Walton said a white college student arrested with a kilogram of powder cocaine would probably get 3 to 4 years in prison, while a black high school dropout caught with the same amount of crack would face a mandatory 10-year sentence and the possibility of a life sentence. Read more.

Between 1989 and 1991, Judge Walton served as President George H. W. Bush's Associate Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy in the Executive Office of the President and as President Bush's Senior White House Advisor for Crime.

Family voices outrage over drunk car killer

BOSTON: "Why aren't drunk drivers charged with murder?" read a sign carried by family members of slain Suffolk University student Evagelos Pashos, 21, of Shrewsbury, near Boston. The family and friends expressed their grief and outrage at the court hearing for the accused driver, who collided head on with Pashos' car, fatally injuring the student. The accused, 47-year old Alison Voorhis, was charged with vehicular manslaughter. Source. The family's noisy demonstration at the court hearing -- they packed the courtroom and vented their grief and anger at the defendant -- speaks to growing frustration with the relatively lenient treatment given to people who kill people with cars while under the influence, compared to other types of homicide.

Frat life: Beer, urine, vomit

Screaming, sobbing and moaning were coming from the Sigma Alpha Epsilon frat house. Police found pledges crawling on their hands and knees and wearing items such as diapers and women's underwear. The house smelled of beer, urine and vomit. Three men were taken to a hospital.

Following this Oct. 26 incident at University of Central Florida, the national board of the fraternity disbanded the chapter. "Our board does not feel it's worth the effort to rehabilitate the group," a spokesman said. Source.

About time. When will the rest of the Greek world take a hard look at itself and reach the same conclusion?

Students Against Drunk Driving

East Lansing, MI: There's a new chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving on the Michigan State University campus, but it wasn't established by any mothers.

Amy Gnotek, MSU senior, knows all too well the damage drunk drivers cause. She's lost two high school friends, an aunt and uncle in separate drunk driving accidents. That's why she's organized Spartans Against Drunk Driving: "It's just hard, and I know it's touched a lot of lives a lot of families." Source.

Amy says the 40,000 students at her school are known for partying. East Lansing Police Chief Tom Wibert agrees. The department has reached a 15-year high on the number of drunk driving arrests, and now he's helping these students work on prevention.

Go, Amy!

Fraternities: Another Jungle

Upton Sinclair's novel The Jungle did more than any other single work to arouse public opinion against the malevolent excesses of the American meat packing industry, and to initiate its reform. Now another literary heavyweight, the prolific author Joyce Carol Oates, has come forward with a short story (Landfill in the current New Yorker, source) that ought to arouse a similar passion about the jungle of college fraternities.

Oates' fictional story describes the death of Hector Campos Jr., a Latino student at Michigan State University, who got drunk and either fell or was pushed down a trash chute into the dumpster behind the Phi Epsilon fraternity. Authorities found his body three weeks later -- three weeks of agony for his parents -- in the county landfill. Oates writes in a documentary style, sequencing factual detail after detail until the resulting tapestry becomes emotionally overwhelming.

Newspaper reports of real deaths of real college students don't seem to have made much of a dent in the college fraternity drinking scene. Source. Maybe Oates' intensely felt and written fictional piece in the New Yorker will succeed where journalism has failed. Thank you, Ms. Oates, for the effort.