Popular college taverns such as University of Wisconsin hotspot McGruder's Pub struggle to remain in business during college breaks, when binge drinking suffers a significant reduction.
Posted on 07/07/2006 3:31:11 AM PDT by Graybeard58
Los Angeles, Calif. – According to a recent 20-college study conducted by researchers at UCLA, binge drinking, which is universally acknowledged as the most serious problem plaguing college campuses, can reach dangerous lows during college breaks.
"While class is in session, as much as forty-four percent of the college population engages regularly in binge drinking, which pretty much everyone agrees is a big number," said Thomas Walters, lead researcher on the two-year study. "But during Christmas or spring breaks, or during the summer, there are considerably less people on campus. So even if, say, seventy or eighty percent of the remaining youths are routinely consuming toxic amounts of alcohol in proportionately small timeframes, that's still a very, very small amount of binge drinking going on."
Results of the study show that a college such as UCLA, with an annual enrollment of approximately 36,000, may have as few as 50 to 60 students actively binge drinking during scheduled breaks in course schedules.
"There are always a few diehards that have no jobs or better things to do than remain on campus during breaks and continue to binge drink," said Walters. "The good news here is that often these stragglers will binge drink on an even more regular basis because of their general lack of other commitments such as attending class or studying."
Walters said that the dangerously low level of binge drinking during college breaks can have a significantly negative effect on the local economy.
"Taverns, liquor stores and hospital emergency rooms located near campuses suffer significantly decreased business during college breaks," Walters explained. "Obviously, less binge drinking means less beer and liquor sales, and less cases of alcohol poisoning. In many college towns, large numbers of paramedics and ambulance drivers find themselves laid off during summer recess because so few students are recreationally drinking until they pass out and choke to death on their own vomit."
Pete Wagner, owner of McGruder's Pub near the University of Wisconsin in Madison, agreed with the study's findings, saying that summer breaks routinely cause such drastic shortages in binge drinking as to threaten his establishment's ability to stay afloat.
"No doubt about it: without the college kids in here drinking themselves stupid it's hard to make ends meet," said Wagner, who said he prides himself on having served many a U of W student their first drink too many during the last 15 years. "Sure, while college is out of session, there's a lot less scrubbing puke off the floor, and there aren't nearly as many in-booth rape incidents to speak of, but at what price, you know?"
Popular college taverns such as University of Wisconsin hotspot McGruder's Pub struggle to remain in business during college breaks, when binge drinking suffers a significant reduction.
Thanks for posting and alerting us to this new danger. I will try to monitor this for our locals to make sure we don't fall short.
Not to worry, they'll be back at Wisconsin in the Fall in time for their annual riots and town burning.
That is the dumbest (20 year) study I have ever read. Binge drinking hits "lows" during the holiday's and spring break? That is because they are doing it elsewhere.
How is this a "dangerous low"?
This is one of the stupidest articles I've read in a long time.
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