Chico State gets tougher on alcohol

In their latest bid to tame student behavior and polish the campus image, administrators at California State University, Chico, are ordering all incoming freshmen to complete an online alcohol abuse prevention course and promising to crack down on students caught with booze in the dorms.

More than 2,000 freshmen will be required to complete and pass a three-hour-long alcohol awareness course before they register for spring courses, campus officials said Thursday.

And, for the first time, campus officials will notify parents when their children are busted for alcohol in the dorms. A second bust - it had been three - will get students kicked out of campus housing for good.

All of this, university leaders say, is part of their strategy to curb student drinking and bad behavior that earlier this year led to the hazing death of 21-year-old Matthew Carrington from drinking toxic amounts of water and the near-death of a Butte College student from alcohol poisoning at a fraternity house.

As some might know, I'm quite vocal on this subject.

The fact of the matter is, even though an 18 year old is considered an adult, for college purposes, they are still hanging onto their parents apron strings (not all...I don't mean to generalize and respect tfecw for putting himself through school, as I did as well).

I have experience with underage collegian drinking in that I live in an area which has a high population of college students. I can't tell you how many nights of sleep I've lost or how much garbage I've picked up, due to underage drinkers.

Parents jettison their offspring to the colleges and don't think much after that. They think "no, not my child. THey would NEVER drink underage, drink and drive, drink and harrass the hardworking, tax-paying, native citizens of their college town. No. Not my child".

I know this would never fly, but if you listed students' parent's HOME addresses, there would be a lot less monkey business. Personally, I would LOVE to give these parents a taste of what I've been put through. Maybe then I could go to their house at 4 a.m. on a weekday and screem WOO HOO! I'M SOOO DRUNK! YAAOWWWW!!!

This is one of my pet-peeves, and before anyone says to me, "Come on, WOCS, you never partied when you were a college student?". No. I didn't, at least not to the extent that I see in kids today ( I think maybe five parties I went to in a four year period at a LARGE university known for its parties). And I certainly was not disrespectful of other residents or property.

Let's not forget, these students, unless emancipated by the court from their parents, are entitled to health benefits as well under their parents' plan (to the age of 23 if a full-time student).

I've seen too many students killed because of this rite of passage. At this point, I almost feel as though they got what they deserved. But if something, even notifying parents, can help save lives, then I'm for it.

I'm with you for the most part.

Yes, notifying the parents is going to be helpful, but I wonder how effective they were in the first place when they taught their child to be a responsible adult. Throwing them in jail (the kids) would probably be more affective.

But I'm sure they have something you can sign off to block parental intervention on things, otherwise I'd take my business to a college that accepts I'm an adult and ultimately responsible for my actions.

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