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College Is High School on Weed, Alcohol and Cocaine

By Kai Beasley
Black College Wire

Kai Beasley

On April 16, the United States was shaken by one of the most horrible massacres in our history. A 23 year-old Virginia Tech student unleashed his anger and disappointment in a torrent of gunfire that claimed the lives of 32 innocent people. Perhaps most shocking is that it happened on a college campus.

College? How can that be? How can something so horrible happen at a place where society sends its children each year to grow up? Perhaps college is closer to the harshness of the real world than we thought. Perhaps it’s time to take a look at what college is.

In response to the day’s event, President Bush said, “Schools should be places of sanctuary and safety and learning. When that sanctuary is violated, the impact is felt in every American classroom and every American community.” He’s right, isn’t he? Schools should be sanctuaries. They should be safe. The majority of parents think that colleges are that way. But . . . ummm . . . have ya been to college lately? Safe is not a word I would use to describe it.

I cannot speak for the college of the old days when you had to walk two miles to class uphill both ways, in three feet of snow, with newspaper on your feet because only the oldest child in the family of 13 brothers and sisters got to wear shoes.

Today, college is basically high school on weed, alcohol and cocaine. It’s a place of experimentation, where kids look for as much stimulation as they can, from as many sources as possible; not unlike the infant who can know something only by putting it in its mouth. It’s a place where kids who don’t have much of an understanding of the world are allowed to have real-world experiences without having to face real-world consequences.

Earlier this year, the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University in New York released a report on alcohol abuse in America. Astoundingly, the report found that 70 percent of college students admit to drinking, and 40 percent of the total acknowledge binge drinking. A whopping 49 percent of students between 18 and 22 reported frequent binge drinking or abuse of prescription or illegal drugs such as marijuana or cocaine.

Safe? That doesn’t sound too safe. Especially when one considers the behavioral side effects that alcohol and drug abuse can have.

As a senior about to graduate in May, I have learned that there are certain things you can count on in any “college wa-hoo!” experience. The most common is the party, or as many students refer to it, “The Party . . . Ow . . . Yeah!!” Anyone who goes to a college party (Ow!!! Yeah!!!) can expect a few things to happen on cue.

By 11:30, probably 40 percent of those who attend will have trouble walking. By 12:15, at least three people will be throwing up due to alcohol poisoning. By the end of the night, say around 1 a.m. or 2 a.m., at least one person will need medical attention, three people will drive home drunk because no, no “. . . they’re reely not jrunk at all, thay only had like sicks drinks, dude.” And finally, probably on average, two girls will wake up regretting spending the night with the bulky frat boy next to them against their will.

Now let’s talk about that safe refuge. A 2004 college alcohol study from the Harvard School of Public Health reported that incidents of rape have become more common on college campuses with the increase in binge drinking, placing alcohol at the center of most rapes. In a study done at 119 schools, it was found that one in 20 women reported being raped within the first three months of the school year, and an unbelievable 72 percent of those rapes occurred when the women reported being too intoxicated to consent or refuse sexual advances.

Alcohol and drug abuse mixed with a pressure to succeed and be socially accepted has led to a spike in suicidal behavior as well. In 2006, the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry listed suicide as the leading cause of death on college campuses, citing more than 1,100 suicides nationwide every year. People between 18 and 24 think about suicide more often than does any other age group. The same year, a National College Health Risk Behavior Study found that 11.4 percent of college students seriously considered suicide.

These statistics might sound scary, but that is not the purpose in citing them.

College is a place where young adults encounter the freedom and the responsibility that comes with taking their lives into their own hands for the first time. Are they going to make mistakes? Clearly. Are they going to experiment? Of course they are; to be alive is to be compelled to experience everything. Without stimulation there is no learning.

But stimulation can be dangerous and deadly. When you put a bunch of college students into the same area, all experiencing the world, and in many ways, themselves for the first time, clashes are bound to occur. There are going to be situations where people are put in environments where they don’t belong, or where they can be a danger to themselves and others. This is unavoidable.

While the Virginia Tech shootings are an aberration, the key is to have no illusions about the college environment, and subsequently, to have no illusions about human nature in it. Children need more than a safe refuge for learning; they need information about the world around them that can help them make the transition from child to adult as smoothly as possible.

Kai Beasley is a senior at Emory University who writes a weekly column for the Villanovan at Villanova University. Articles in the Voices section represent the views of their authors, and not necessarily those of Black College Wire. To comment, e-mail [email protected]

Posted April 26, 2007