Two people dead at Ferris State University after evenings of drinking. One dead at Michigan State after downing 24 shots on his 21st birthday. Cars aflame and windows shattered in downtown East Lansing, the second Michigan State melee in as many years. Jolted by a series of alcohol-related tragedies and problems last school year, Michigan colleges and universities this year are trying more measures to cut down on heavy drinking. We're not going to do things anymore that just don't change behaviors.
Statistics indicate that overall, college drinking is down from a decade ago.
Henry Wechsler, the director of college alcohol studies at the Harvard School of Public Health and the author of the study, says binge drinking rates vary wildly depending on the campus, from 1 percent to nearly 80 percent of students. But one constant, he says, is that students usually believe drinking rates are higher than they actually are. That's why many schools in Michigan and elsewhere have begun hitting students with the message that heavy or even moderate drinking isn't as prevalent among college students as some think. We want to marginalize those students who really drink a lot. After a year of deaths and rioting that placed Michigan universities' reputations at stake, the state is also getting involved at unprecedented levels.