<p>"the joke in Europe and parts of Canada is that you can always tell the American teenagers, because they are the ones getting smashed.:</p>
<p>Except binge drinking rates among Northern European teens are well higher than for American ones.</p>
<p>Look, as a beginning, I think every college President, well, let’s begin with the President of my alma mater, should get up before the assembled freshman at the beginning of every school year, and say something like the following:</p>
<p>"You assembled here represent the best and brightest class we’ve ever had. (he says that every year). You come from every state in the union, and umpteen foreign countries, from all races and classes and stations in life, and you should be very proud.</p>
<p>Now I have something very serious to say. Take a look around you, two people to the left, and three to the right. One of the six of you (thre of whom, by the way, were high school valedictorians), once you leave here, will be saddled with a serious alcohol problem or the chronic disease of alcoholism for the rest of your life. If you are white, and male, it might be closer to one in five. It doesn’t mean you aren’t intelligent - you know that, and I know that. Some of you might become bank presidents, or famous lawyers, or able doctors - but you will still struggle, and unless you decide to break that pattern now, you are likely to pass this chronic disease down to your children. We want to help - by providing you with the education, skills, and tools necessary to help you circumvent this fate, but we will need you to make use of them.</p>
<p>Also take a look around you. More than a few of you - and not necessarily within the one of six - will commit forcible rape or sexual assault. You will be rapists or sexual assaulters, a very serious felony in this state. You won’t necessarily think of it that way - when it happens, your minds will be clouded, your judgment may not be sound, you really won’t be morally aware of what you are doing. You might not even remember it in the morning. I want you to know that in the eyes of the law, this matters little. But putting aside the law, is this what you wish to remember as the legacy of your days here?</p>
<p>And now take a look at all these wonderful women here. More than a few of you will be raped or sexually assaulted. You will not be raped or sexually assaulted by people outside the college walls, by folks in the neighborhood, or by a random stranger. It will be by one of the people - perhaps even by one of the former valedictorians - sitting in this room. You may at first not think of it as rape, and likely you will not even report it until you figure it out for yourself a week or a month or even a year later. Some of you will have blacked out from alcohol intoxication, and not remember it at all. Most of you will feel a mixture of fear, anger, and shame - and you will carry it around with you for a very long time.</p>
<p>A few of you aren’t going to make it. You will fall off a balcony, drive your car off the hairpin turn (we’ve lost 30 that way since I was born), or simply drink so much that you will stop breathing before we get you to the hospital. We will hold a moving memorial service for you, and our insurance company will (privately) give your parents a hefty settlement payment. But you won’t be around for graduation.</p>
<p>None of this has anything to do with the legal drinking age. Some of us think it should be lower. Others of us think it should remain where it is. Regardless, as an educational institution, we feel dutybound to help you make wise choices, and avoid these fates. We have an entire psychology department that can teach you about the development of the adolescent brain, a genetics department which can help you understand the alleles for alcoholism and your particular and personal risk, a fine sociology department that can help you learn about group behavior, a fantastic philosophy and religion department that can help you understand ethical choices. We have a great student assistance department that will not try to convince you not to drink, but can help you to develop strategies to moderate your drinking. We have junior advisors who we have asked to help you, confidentially, to develop your own alcohol risk profile, so you know where you stand.</p>
<p>And we will help you develop habits of ways to have fun without resort to alcohol use. To demonstrate our commitment and to provide role models, today - with the backing of the board of trustees - I wish to announce that all faculty and alumni events on campus will now be alcohol-free. There is no reason why your parents’ tuition checks should be paying for my choice or that of any faculty member to drink. </p>
<p>Let us turn over a new page. We really can do better. We are considered by some to be the number one liberal arts college in the nation. But, truthfully, given what I know about the impact of alcohol on educational achievement - on this campus, and on every campus - I know better. We can do better, and we will.</p>
<p>Thank you."</p>