Y KEEPS 'STONE COLD SOBER' TITLE

PROVO - For the fifth straight year, Brigham Young University has been
named the most "stone cold sober school" in the nation by an annual review
that helps students prepare for college.

The Princeton Review also ranked BYU first out of 345 schools in the
categories of most religious, low hard liquor usage and low beer usage.

Those rankings may cause a snicker at "party schools" like Indiana
University-Bloomington, but BYU students say they don't care if others
think they are boring because they don't drink.

"Sure there might be people who mock us, but as LDS people we thrive on
being a peculiar people," said Rob Foster, BYU's student body president. "I
think it's something to be proud of that in the year 2002 there are 18- to
24-year-olds who are choosing to not partake of alcohol or use drugs. I
think that's really something."

The Princeton Review, which has been published since 1992, polled 65,000
students at the top 345 colleges in the nation to formulate its rankings.

The rankings are designed to help high school students decide where they
want to attend college.

Students who like to "party" might want to go to Indiana
University-Bloomington, Clemson University or the University of
Alabama-Tuscaloosa.

Those who would rather not drink may choose a "stone cold sober school"
like BYU, Wheaton College in Illinois or one of the military academies.

The Review also ranks schools in categories that include marijuana usage
(Clemson ranked first), acceptance of the gay community (BYU ranked third
in the category of low acceptance), and condition of the dorms (BYU ranked
14th in 1999 in the Dorms Like Dungeons category).

For the first time another Utah school made one of the top 20 rankings. The
University of Utah ranked fourth in the most religious category.

Carrie Jenkins, BYU spokeswoman, said the rankings will have little sway on
high school students who plan to go to BYU because most know the school's
honor code forbids the use of alcohol, tobacco or drugs.

Jenkins was pleased the school got high marks for the way it's run (the
administration ranked 19) and its high quality of life (the school ranked
fifth).

"I think it says something that we are the most sober school and we are
also ranked number five in the quality of life category. I think the two
are correlated," Jenkins said.

Foster agrees. He says just because BYU students don't drink doesn't mean
they don't have fun.

"I think (the rankings) are something to be very pleased about," he said.
"We all came to BYU to live these standards."