I don’t subscribe to the Hartford Courant, so it was only by chance that I saw this article on drinking and Spring weekend at the University of Connecticut while I was getting my oil changed this morning.  I agree with the comments section — this really isn’t surprising.  What’s surprising is that college officials are surprised.  Many of the comments to the article come from alumni.  I especially like this one:

“The difference 25 years ago was that the main partying was confined to the dorms and the internal quads on campus. In general the state police were not involved and the Residence Hall staff could target the trouble makers so there was more control — most of the time.

When drinking got banned from organized UConn events it pushed the partying to less controlled neighborhood property and a greater number of students felt there was no consequences for their actions.”

The report mentions the Amethyst Initiative which suggests lowering the drinking age will combat the underground culture of binge drinking.  It remains to be seen whether UConn will adopt this or not.  I agree with the report that education about alcohol should begin early — but one would hope that the message would be that moderate alcohol consumption is the norm for the majority of adults.