A SPECIAL REPORT

SOME EXPERTS SAY COLLEGES SHARE THE RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE RECENT RIOTS

Although many people are quick to chastise the students involved in recent
riots in several states, colleges share some of the blame, according to
administrators and alcohol experts.

For many years, college officials looked the other way when underage
students drank. But a string of high-profile, alcohol-related deaths in
recent years -- including one last fall at Louisiana State University, and
another at Massachusetts Institute of Technology -- has prompted colleges to
crack down on minors who drink. Alcohol arrests on college campuses jumped
by 10 per cent in 1996, the latest year for which data are available,
according to a recent survey by The Chronicle (May 8).

Public pressure may also be contributing to stricter enforcement. Last week,
in a speech at the National Press Club in Washington, David Satcher, the
U.S. Surgeon General, described alcohol as "a serious problem with our young
people at every age, but especially on college campuses, as we see more
binge drinking."

The way students see it, their "right" to drink is being stripped away. When
they are intoxicated and in large groups, the resulting anger can escalate
into mob violence.

"Colleges have really gotten themselves into this mess," said Arthur E.
Levine, president of Teachers College at Columbia University and author of a
new book, When Hope and Fear Collide: A Portrait of Today's College Student
(Jossey-Bass). "Over the years, colleges tended to wink at the alcohol
policies, and then they started enforcing and changing policies without
involving students in the decisions. It was the ideal set of circumstances
to bring about these riots."

Another theory is that students are acting up because they feel disengaged
from their campuses. Vicky L. Triponey, vice-chancellor for student affairs
at the University of Connecticut, believes that students are resentful and
eager to defy authority because few adults on the campus are reaching out to
them. "We've become more segmented," she said, and students feel alienated
as a result. "If we can get students connected to something bigger than
themselves, they're going to be less likely to behave this way."

Others say students cling fiercely to their booze because they see it as a
symbol of having escaped their parents. "It represents a sense of autonomy,
freedom, and independence -- and it's hard to compete with that," said
Philip W. Meilman, director of counseling and psychological services at
Cornell University and co-director of the Core Institute, which conducts
surveys of student alcohol use.

Some students say they simply want the freedom that an earlier generation
took for granted. Many of the college officials who are cracking down today
drank legally throughout their own college days.

"Students are just tired of being busted on," said Joe Uscinski, a junior
majoring in political science at Plymouth State College. He was one of
hundreds of partyers caught in a melee with police this month. "Everybody in
college is 18 and older. We're all adults, and we don't need someone to tell
us we can't drink alcohol."

When Plymouth State officials tried to stop an annual celebration called
"Spring Fling" this month, hundreds of students gathered on a city street,
carrying beer and radios. They pelted police with bottles, cans, and rocks,
and did not disperse until the officers drew their billy clubs.

"You could analyze this to death, but the bottom line is that these are
young, immature people who are finding their joy in the wrong way, and they
can't handle that amount of alcohol," said Dick Hage, Plymouth State's dean
of student affairs. "When you have large groups and a lot of alcohol, it's a
lethal combination."

Some administrators at the colleges that have experienced riots in recent
weeksfind hope in the experience of Iowa State University, which managed to
pull off a previously notorious spring party with few problems this year.
Riots had broken out at the weekend event, known as "Veishea" -- an acronym
representing the university's original schools -- in 1988 and 1992, and a
visitor was stabbed to death during last year's party.

Instead of canceling this year's Veishea, the college asked
student-government and Greek leaders to help persuade students to sign a
pledge that they would not drink during the festival. For its part, the
university agreed to spend $80,000 to add rock bands, such as Tonic, and the
comedian Kevin Nealon to the weekend lineup.

Only 120 people were arrested or issued citations, down from 420 last year,
and just five of the arrests were for underage drinking.

"The administration could have shut Veishea down, but instead it gave
students an option," said Steve Sullivan, a university spokesman and an
adviser to the students who planned the festival. "Alternative events are
also important. If a university expects something from the students, they
need something in return."

That approach hasn't worked at some other places. Connecticut held a
university-sponsored party to try to restrain off-campus mischief during the
annual spring celebration last month, but students weren't interested.
Instead, the vast majority partied off campus -- and rioted on two
consecutive nights.

Ms. Triponey, the Connecticut dean, said the university's plan "blew up in
our faces."

"You think you know the nature of these weekends, but it's just not
predictable anymore," she said. "From an administrative point of view,
that's frightening."

Plymouth State officials said they, too, had planned alternative events
during Spring Fling. But a play, a concert with a local band, and a health
fair all drew meager crowds.

The college-sponsored events at Connecticut and Plymouth State were planned
with the help of student leaders, who were apparently ill-informed about
what most of their classmates wanted.

Likewise, at Washington State University, fraternity leaders made a promise
that many of their members never intended to follow. The Interfraternity
Council agreed last summer to ban alcohol at all social events in fraternity
houses. Fraternity members have been grousing about the policy ever since,
and the frustration boiled over during the early-morning hours of May 3,
when a large crowd of students squared off with police.

Manny DeCoria, a senior at Washington State, said he was on his seventh can
of Busch beer when police arrived at an off-campus party that had drawn as
many as 2,000 people. He kept his distance as students hurled bricks and
bottles, and the police responded with tear gas and water hoses.

"People started to adopt this idea that, 'Well, we're rebelling, so let's
find acause,'" he said later. "Obviously, an easy cause is the alcohol
policy, and how people are feeling more of a crackdown."

Last week, the university said it would bar six fraternity chapters that
were involved in the riots from rushing new freshmen next fall, unless any
new evidence absolves them of blame. The chapters may also be expelled from
campus.

"The party's over at Washington State University," said Samuel H. Smith, its
president. "I am sick of the party school image that refuses to go away."

Colleges should brace for more protests, said Thomas G. Goodale, who
organized a national conference on college drinking last month at the
College of William and Mary (The Chronicle, April 30). "We're going to have
a lot more of this for a period of time, until we move from being a
permissive, laissez-faire environment to one where students are held more
accountable for their behavior," said Mr. Goodale, an education professor at
the college. "We're in a transition."

Copyright (c) 1998 by The Chronicle of Higher Education

Checked-by: "R. Lake"