CSU investigates alcohol abuse

By Ryan May
Daily Forty-Niner

The Chancellor's Office announced it has assigned a committee to review and strengthen the alcohol policy within the Cal State University system last week following alcohol-related injuries on CSU campuses.

The formation of the committee comes two months after a fraternity pledge at CSU Chico died after consuming a large quantity of alcohol. Within the same two-week period, two fraternity pledges from San Diego State were hospitalized under similar circumstances, according to information released through the Chancellor's Office.

"We cannot look at alcohol abuse as just a way of college life," said CSU Chancellor Charles B. Reed in a press release. "We need to increase awareness of the problem and then find some solutions that really work and not just come up with policies that sit on a shelf."

Ken Swisher, a spokesman for the Chancellor's Office, said although occurrences like those at Chico and San Diego are rare within the CSU system, alcohol abuse is more common than the administration would like.

"You have a lot of young people, many of them experiencing new freedoms," Swisher said. "Sometimes they don't make the right choices and those choices can be very dangerous."

The committee will consist of six CSU presidents, including Manuel Esteban of Chico and Stephen Weber of San Diego, and five to six students to be selected by the California State Student Association.

"The Chancellor is taking alcohol abuse very seriously," Swisher said. "It's a very difficult issue to deal with because it's a societal problem that's magnified on campuses because of young people's inexperience."

Not only fraternities and sororities are affected by alcohol abuse, he said, but the entire campus population also suffers.

The announcement comes only days after representatives from the city prosecutor's office, University Police and Student Life and Development met with leaders of fraternities and sororities from Cal State Long Beach, reviewing areas of conduct to be avoided.

"It was a very supportive measure," said University Police Capt. Stan Skipworth. "It was designed and it met its objective in providing information to the fraternity and sorority representatives that [they] are in a position of leadership and that, as such, [they] are also in a position of responsibility."

Amy Geist, coordinator of Student Life and Development for Greek life, said her office is proactive, advocating the use of third-party vendors and locations where licensed bartenders control the consumption of alcohol. Additionally, Geist said that such events are a small part of fraternity or sorority life.

"We do have scholars and we have athletes. We do philanthropic work and our students are excellent role models, for the most part," Geist said. "As with any cross section of students, you're going to have people who are the weaker links and those are the kind of students that we need to focus on and get them to reap the benefits of the membership that they have."