<p>I know Barrons typically posts the honors bestowed upon UW, but here is a new one: </p>
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<p><a href=“http://www.wisinfo.com/postcrescent/news/archive/local_22297082.shtml[/url]”>http://www.wisinfo.com/postcrescent/news/archive/local_22297082.shtml</a></p>
<p>This seems like an appropriate response:</p>
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<p>August 22, 2005</p>
<p>by John Lucas</p>
<p>Despite the Princeton Review’s label of UW-Madison as one of the nation’s top “party schools,” university officials say they are making progress with aggressive efforts to control high-risk drinking among students.</p>
<p>“High-risk drinking continues to be a top health issue on college campuses across the country,” says UW-Madison Chancellor John D. Wiley. “Junk science that results in a day of national media coverage does not do this issue justice. At Wisconsin, we will continue our multi-faceted approach to the problem.”</p>
<p>One UW-Madison project, known locally as PACE (Policy, Alternatives, Community and Education), seeks to change the overall environment around campus drinking by strengthening alcohol policies on campus and in the City of Madison.</p>
<p>“Our work is having a measurable, positive impact,” says Susan Crowley, director of PACE. “We care about this issue every week of the year, not just the week Princeton Review parachutes into the news to try to sell books. We hope that people don’t believe their hype.”</p>
<p>Since its inception in the late 1990s, PACE has advocated the idea that high-risk drinking leads to serious consequences, including violence, vandalism and sexual assaults. The problem also costs the city and university more than $1 million each year in policing costs and cleanup expenses.</p>
<p>PACE is part of the “Matter of Degree” program sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the American Medical Association and the Harvard School of Public Health.</p>
<p>PACE has more accurate scientific data than the 2,200 anecdotal surveys conducted by Princeton Review, says Crowley. University research shows that the approach is effective, despite Wisconsin’s entrenched culture as one of the heaviest-drinking states in the nation.</p>
<p>Among the PACE statistics, culled from the College Alcohol Study:</p>
<pre><code>* The binge drinking rate, defined as having binged at least one time within a two-week period, dropped from 67 percent in 1999 to 59 percent in 2004. Also, the number of students who reported that they usually binge when they drink has declined from 54 percent to 47 percent.
<p>Other PACE data points to lower admissions to local detoxification centers and University Housing surveys show that greater numbers of freshmen students are not drinking.</p>
<p>As part of the university’s efforts to involve parents, Chancellor Wiley recently sent a letter to incoming freshmen parents, asking them to discuss alcohol issues with their son or daughter before coming to campus at the end of August.</p>
<p>Based on national research, PACE advocates for the City of Madison to adopt a comprehensive alcohol strategy to curb problems with high-risk drinking. Suggestions include:</p>
<pre><code>* Eliminating late-night drink specials.
<p>Crowley says she is encouraged that the city recently hired its first alcohol policy coordinator in a continued effort to develop a coordinated set of rules for bars and taverns.</p>
<p>In addition, PACE distributes a student-produced guide to throwing a safe house party. Among the tips are keeping parties small and under control, not selling cups and taking extra care around balconies.</p>
<p>I put it in the UW section of school discussions. Actually I am having a battle with some other alums on the UW sports board over the impact of such a dubious achievement. It can be found at:</p>
<p><a href=“http://mb7.scout.com/fwisconsin36703frm10.showMessage?topicID=4687.topic[/url]”>http://mb7.scout.com/fwisconsin36703frm10.showMessage?topicID=4687.topic</a></p>
<p>You might need to register though.</p>
<p>I’d like to hear what CC folks think??</p>
<p>I think schools could kick up a scholarship fund for students who avoid alcohol and drugs. It would be easy enought to verify and worth a couple of hundred bucks off tuition, plus all the money they would save. Downtown bars and beer salesman would riot.</p>
<p>I don’t think the PR ranking about subjective categories like this mean very much, and while I don’t doubt that drinking is a problem at UW I certainly do doubt that it is any less a problem at dozens of other schools at every level of the academic and selectivity scale.</p>
<p>The methodology PR uses is about as useful as pulling names out of a hat. As subjective as USNWR’s can be, in terms of what they choose to measure and how they choose to weight, it’s at least much more transparent than PR, which apparently consists of buttonholing whoever is in the school cafeteria and seeing who feels like answering, plus, hey, want to reply on line? You can, as often as you like. It’s beyond junk science.</p>
<p>Garland summed it up nicely! :)</p>
<p>I agree I mean how does one interpret arrests? More of a problem because they have high arrests or less of a problem because they do arrest? Then there is the emergency room issue…so much of this is not relevant. Why don’t they just do this survey by having the beer distributors release their stats…and the liquor distributors do the same.</p>