College students are among our nation's most treasured and valuable resources. They will be the doctors, scientists, engineers and lawyers of the future. The college years are a time of not only intellectual progress and achievement for young Americans, but also a time of personal, social, spiritual and emotional development. It is therefore crucial that colleges and universities recognize that, in order to guide students through these critical years, they must create a culture that nurtures and supports all aspects of a student's life, both in and out of the classroom.
Nothing interrupts the growth and social development of college students more than the abuse of alcohol, drugs, and cigarettes. Excessive college drinking is too often accepted as a Rite of passage, thus nurturing a behavior that is destroying lives and endangering our country's future.
In the fall of 1992, the Center on Addiction and Substance at Columbia University (CASA) convened a national commission to examine the issues surrounding the abuse of all substances --legal and illegal drugs, alcohol, tobacco and steroids-- on America's college and university campuses. For the last twenty months, this Commission-- composed of college presidents, deans, trustees, coaches, and students, as well as parents, physicians, legislators, judges and corporate executives-- has examined relevant data, met with experts in the field, talked with college presidents, conducted hearings, held student focus groups, and examined existing programs.
In August 1993, the Commission issued its first report, The Smoke-Free Campus, in which it recommended that all schools across the country develop and implement campus-wide smoke-free policies. Universities responded positively to the Commission's recommendations, with many schools informing CASA that they already had gone-- or were in the process of going-- completely smoke-free.
The Commission's final report focuses on the biggest substance abuse problem facing colleges and universities today-- abusive drinking. Substantial progress has been made throughout society in curbing the use and abuse of cigarettes, drugs and alcohol. Although there have been some troublesome signs in the last year of increases in heroin, LSD, and marijuana use on college campuses, over the last ten years illegal drug use has declined throughout our society, including on college campuses. Over the same period, there has also been a marked decrease in alcohol abuse among non-college youth. On college campuses, however, the level of abusive drinking among college students has remained the same. Indeed, much of the anecdotal evidence gathered by the Commission indicates that the intensity of the problem has increased with many students drinking more, more frequently and with the express purpose of getting drunk. Through overwhelming statistical evidence; interviews with college presidents, deans, and students; and finally the experience of many of the Commission members who themselves are directly involved with college communities as trustees and college presidents; the Commission has concluded that abusive drinking is the major and pervasive substance abuse problem on our nation's campuses.