Plaudits to the University of Tampa for getting out in front of a serious undergraduate issue – student drinking – that is too often dismissed as a rite of collegiate passage. UT actually requires all its first-year students to complete an online alcohol prevention program, AlcoholEdu for College, immediately upon arrival.
Some sobering statistics underscore the need. According to the National Institute of Alcoholism and Alcohol Abuse, there were more than 1,700 alcohol-related deaths and 2.1 million cases of student DUIs in 2002. The NIAAA also estimates nearly 600,000 injuries, 97,000 sexual assaults and 159,000 first-year drop outs attributable to alcohol and other drugs every year.