FRAT LEADERS ARE HEAVIEST DRINKERS, STUDY

The Greeks don't show much leadership in curbing alcohol use, researchers
report.

College officials who look to fraternity leaders to help curb drinking on
campus may be letting the foxes guard the henhouse.

A new study reports that fraternity leaders are among the heaviest drinkers
and most outofcontrol partygoers, setting a bad example for other
students rather than a good one.

"One would hope the leaders would be better," said Cheryl A. Presley,
director of the CORE Institute Center for the Study of Alcohol and Other
Drugs at Southern Illinois University and one of the three authors of the
study. Their results will be published today in the Journal of Studies on
Alcohol.

In recent months, both Louisiana State University and the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology have experienced drinking deaths, and most colleges
face other alcoholrelated problems, ranging from violence and date rape to
property damage.

Many college administrators have tried to work with the leaders of
fraternities and sorotities because studies have shown that drinking is
highest in the fraternity houses and because the leaders are often viewed
as responsible students.

But Philip W. Meilman, director of counseling and psychological services at
Cornell University and another of the coauthors, said the study "raises
questions about the ability of fraternity and sorority leaders to really
participate in those kinds of discussions in a meaningful way."

At the very least, Meilman said, "we really need to target these leaders
for intensive leadership training."

The study found extensive drinking among all students, but fraternity
leaders showed the highest incidence of heavy drinking, which was defined
as having five or more drinks at one sitting. Nearly 74 percent of the
leaders said they had engaged in binge drinking at some time in the
previous two weeks.

Among male students who were only somewhat involved in fraternities, 58
percent said they had had a binge drinking episode in the previous two
weeks. And among those not involved in fraternities at all, the figure was
42 percent.

The fraternity leaders consumed an average of 14 drinks each week, while
male students who were less involved in fraternities had an average of
eight drinks a week, and those who were not involved at all averaged about
six drinks a week.

The researchers drew their data from a 199495 survey of 25,411 students at
61 colleges.

College officials who look to fraternity leaders to help curb drinking on
campus may be letting the foxes guard the henhouse.