UH seeks to curb illegal drinking

By Beverly Creamer
Advertiser Education Writer

A series of tougher housing rules, including asking students to waive certain privacy rights in exchange for living in University of Hawai'i dorms, are being considered for next fall to curb underage drinking on campus.

UH security Capt. Donald Dawson, right, and officer Gary Rivers confiscate a cup of beer from a student at a dorm during a crackdown. Eugene Tanner • The Honolulu Advertiser

"Underage drinking is illegal yet it looks pretty rampant over there," said state Rep. Lynn Finnegan, R-32 (Aliamanu, Airport, Mapunapua), a member of the House Higher Education Committee who participated in a walk-through two Fridays ago.

"I was really shocked" at the blatant nature of it, Finnegan said. "I know UH is working really hard at trying to figure out a way to control and have a better handle on it, and we'll be working closely with them to make sure students are safe."

Underage drinking has not typically been considered a serious problem at UH, compared with the problem it has become at some Mainland universities. But several developments at UH-Manoa in the past several years have heightened concern over student safety:

• A 50 percent increase in alcohol-related violations on campus from 2002 to 2003.

• The death of a 23-year-old student in 2002 because of a toxic mixture of alcohol and methadone.

• Rowdy weekend behavior early in the fall 2004 term that included campus security reports of a number of students being taken to a hospital emergency room with alcohol poisoning.

Under federal privacy law, the university is not legally able to contact parents even if a student ends up in the hospital. That's part of the reason officials are considering requiring students to waive some rights if they intend to live in the dorms.

"We're looking at finding a way to contact parents sooner ... if a student has committed a serious offense against the housing rules, or anything that would mean expulsion from the dorms. That would include underage drinking," said Ron Cambra, associate dean of Arts and Sciences and special assistant to the chancellor.

Dorm students interviewed randomly for this report said they would have difficulty signing away their privacy rights, even if they don't worry about their parents knowing what they do. And they feel that such measures would simply anger students and drive them out of campus housing.

"I love my parents but I don't feel they're a part of that anymore," said 18-year-old freshman Katrina Coe, who grew up in Portland, Ore. "It's my decision. All the lectures I got as a kid, I realize they're true now because of my experience. But I'm really grateful to learn this myself. ... Everyone has gotten drunk. It's a learning process. You have to know your limits. When I'm in a safe place with people I trust, it's not a big deal to get tipsy."

Students also generally see Manoa's underage drinking situation as tame compared with that of Mainland colleges, and maintain that college drinking is a necessary part of understanding limits and responsibilities. To make rules more restrictive, say many, would drive underage drinking off campus, where students may not be as safe.

"You're supposed to be learning to handle problems on your own," said 18-year-old Lauren Smith from Irvine, Calif. "If it's something I couldn't handle I'd call my parents, anyway. But I like that it's my decision."

Tara White, an 18-year-old freshman from Pennsylvania, said she has never had a drink because she said she respects the drinking-age law. Still, she said she would hesitate to sign such a waiver. "That's a violation of everyone's privacy," White said. "I would want to discuss it (with administrators)."

Cambra said drinking incidents have slowed on campus since the beginning of the year.

"We have gone for weekends (this year) without any alcohol poisoning," Cambra said. "But in the first part of the fall semester, we were sending one or two students down to Queen's (emergency room) on the weekend."

Cambra said students drink heavily off campus, too, return to the dorms, and may be sent to the ER by concerned campus security guards.

The campus walk-throughs began early last semester and are intended as a deterrent to underage drinking. But what parents, administrators and others encountered Jan. 21 is typical of behavior early in the semester. Two of the 12 campus dorms, those housing older students, seem to be the focus of problems because they serve as a magnet for younger students. But administrators say the parties tend to slack off as the semester progresses toward midterms and then finals.

James Kepo'o and Candice Takamatsu of Pacific Protection Systems perform ID checks to keep unwanted visitors away from the UH dorms. Eugene Tanner • The Honolulu Advertiser

That's especially true in the Noelani apartment complex, where the interior walkways create an interconnecting lattice-work of party space, and where hundreds of students congregate in groups of a few to a couple dozen on weekend nights. At that point, alcohol is as much an accessory as low-rider jeans and a flashy cell phone.

While each walk-through has offered a different slice of dorm life — much of it positive — parents were highly concerned after the Jan. 21 visit.

"They were yelling F-words as we were walking by," said Theresa Wee, president of the parent group Friends of M Town. "When the kids are intoxicated, it becomes a whole different ball game."

Problems with underage and/or excessive drinking are epidemic at colleges across the Mainland, a fact that has been underscored by several recent tragedies. In the past few months four underage students at colleges in Colorado and Oklahoma have died of causes related to alcohol, three of them from alcohol poisoning. At least two of those deaths followed a series of parties that included hours of binge drinking. In both those cases friends left the students to sleep it off, not realizing they were dying.

UH associate dean Ron Cambra gives Rep. Lynn Finnegan, left, and others a tour of the Noelani dorm to highlight the drinking problem. Eugene Tanner • The Honolulu Advertiser

Statistics over the past three years filed under the guidelines of the federal Jeanne Clery Act show alcohol violations rising at Manoa, including an increase from 300 violations in 2002 to 476 in 2003.

Although heavy underage drinking problems often seem linked to a strong fraternity system — which UH does not have — administrators sense that some dorm students consider drinking a right, and part of the college experience. As well, because Manoa is an open campus in the middle of a large city, it attracts outsiders, including young GIs looking for a party.

"The college culture now is to see how far you can go and see how much you can drink," said Janice Camara, acting interim housing director. After a weekend party, beer bottles litter dorm room coffee tables, and drinking games are known to be popular.

Parents on the walk-through were particularly concerned that students were drinking and sitting precariously on the railings of second- and third-floor walkways.

During the first few weekends of each semester — generally the most problematic time — administrators have asked for a uniformed Honolulu police officer to be stationed at the dorms Friday and Saturday nights, and additional private security has been hired.

The campus walk-throughs have not only earned the attention of the Hawai'i Coalition to Prevent Underage Drinking, lawmakers and Lt. Gov. James "Duke" Aiona's office, but created a new urgency to resolve the problems.

"I don't think students fully understand how much danger they put themselves in," Cambra said. "There are some things we're doing to educate students, but it's obvious we're not reaching all of the students or getting as far into their heads as we need to."

Reach Beverly Creamer at bcreamer@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8013.