High-risk drinking is the number one health concern for college students, according to LaMarr Billups, who represented the Policy Alternatives Community Education Project Wednesday at a meeting of the Alcohol License Review Committee, which regulates liquor licenses in Madison. His group presented several recommendations to the ALRC in attempts to reduce the negative consequences of alcohol over-consumption.
\We're not developing programs for groups of students or individuals,"" said Sue Crowley, director of the PACE Project. Instead, its approach is to study the environment in which UW-Madison students make personal decisions to drink.
That environment includes several bars and restaurants serving alcohol, establishments in which the PACE Project wants to see changes that will make the campus a safer environment for students.
Crowley stressed the need for the elimination of late-night drink specials, which can end not only in crime but also health risks for students, she said. The PACE Project tracks the number of students taken to detoxification centers and says that most students have startlingly high blood-alcohol content levels when admitted.
""We've had as high as 0.4 percent,"" Crowley told the committee.
The PACE Project also asked that the ALRC examine advertising practices of alcohol companies.
Pierre McCormick, president of the Wisconsin Distributors of Anheuser-Busch Products, raised opposition to the requested elimination or reduction of campus advertising for alcohol producers, citing his company's policy against advertising in publications with a majority underage readership.
""I think that is an issue that takes away from ... our customers' ability to advertise their business,"" said McCormick.
Other recommendations included more rigorous ID checks at bars and the elimination of bar games that reward patrons with alcohol. Crowley suggests food as a reward, saying students have few places to eat after bars close, ""unless you really like gyros.""
The PACE Project also requested the ALRC help sustain affordable, non-alcoholic entertainment alternatives for underage students.
""The reality of it is, the kids don't want to go to a non-alcoholic night,"" said one local proprietor.
