Time for new approaches. First, trustees, students, faculty members, and administrators need to recognize just how difficult it will be to change the alcohol-reliant culture that dominates most campuses. In particular, they need to understand the deeply held attitudes about alcohol among some students. Some equate alcohol with their rite of passage into adulthood. They see drinking as a personal right, even if they are under the legal drinking age.
Many students turn to alcohol as a social lubricant.
Yet those who drink in groups, contrary to conventional wisdom, may be even more endangered than those who drink alone. Athletes and fraternity members on some campuses may be at greatest risk, chiefly because individual members of those groups may drink excessively simply because their peers do. Also, students in general tend to believe that other students drink more than they do, which prompts them to drink more than they might otherwise. Second, we need to acknowledge that administrators and faculty members unwittingly have helped create campus cultures that allow students to drink excessively without significant consequences. For example, on many campuses, grade inflation, diminished faculty expectations, Fridays without classes, and fewer early morning classes have enabled students to drink with relative impunity.