U of Iowa aims to cut binge drinking numbers

IOWA CITY (AP) - Officials at the University of Iowa acknowledge it may take years - even a decade - to drive the school's high percentage of binge drinking among students down to the national average.

But they say lowering the binge-drinking rate is key to bringing down the incidence of other problems that happen when UI students drink.

"The 70 percent (of binge drinking among UI students) is linked to everything else," said Sarah Hansen, director of assessment and strategic initiatives at the university.

Binge drinking among University of Iowa students stands at 70 percent, more than twice the national average of 33 percent, according to the American College Health Association.

Over the past year the university has shown a renewed commitment to addressing risky drinking.

"Everyone tells us, 'Don't expect changes overnight,' that if we stay the course, it will drop," said University of Iowa Provost Wallace Loh, who serves as co-chairman on the Partnership for Alcohol Safety. "Our target realistically will be over many years. Our goal is in a decade or so, we can bring it down to the national average."

For a role model, Iowa officials are looking to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, where officials worked to reduce that school's high rate of binge drinking among undergraduates.

In 1997, Nebraska officials were dealing with a campus where 63 percent of undergraduates were binge drinking, said Linda Major, assistant to the vice chancellor for student affairs.

Major said Nebraska officials also concluded that binge drinking was a key to reducing other alcohol-related problems among students. The school used a number of efforts, such as a community, student and campus partnership, but it took time.

"It took us five years to really shift the numbers in a meaningful way," Major said.

Between 2002 and 2003, binge drinking rates at Nebraska flipped from 50 percent to 47 percent, and by 2007, it was down to 41 percent, Major said. When the binge drinking rate came down, so did the primary and secondary effects, she said.

At Iowa, officials have been working to attract a student body less focused on drinking, change perceptions of what is normal drinking through programs like e-CHUG, and encourage students to watch out for one another and intervene in risky drinking.

Moving drinking numbers toward the national average is the target, said Tanya Villhauer, the coordinator of Health Iowa at UI. Going beyond that is a target for another day.

"If we can see any kind of decline, that would be a positive because we haven't seen much movement in 15 years," she said.