Hello

        It strikes me that one excellent place place to search for
material on drinking on college campuses would be the Chronicle of
Higher education, which has had articles at various times on alcohol
problems.  Another would be the alumni magazines of various colleges,
which sometimes print articles on the topic.  I recall that the Yale
alumni magazine had an article about drinking on campus, and the
university's response to it, about a year and a half ago.

        Perhaps one reason that there's been so little research on
college drinking is that colleges and universities treat this topic
gingerly, as a potential public relations minefield.  Having a
student die of alcohol poisoning, for example, is a great fear for
university administrations, in part because of the impact it will
have on student recruitment, parent support, and public image (of
course they regret the loss of life as well).  Institutions of higher
education certainly want to address the issue responsibly, and be
perceived as doing so, but the public relations dimension of this has
the potential for shaping measures and programs in peculiar ways.
The Yale article I mentioned above, for instance, recounts an effort
to make it easier for students who may have alcohol poisoning or
other serious, acute problems related to intoxication to be
transported to hospitals for treatment without any black marks going
on their records, or their parents being notified.  While on the one
hand this may bespeak a desire to provide help for students who might
not otherwise seek it out of fear of the consequences, it also has
the effect of suppressing any official records of acute alcohol abuse
on campus.  Is this disinterested humanitarianism or cynical public
relations?  Or both?