GOVERNMENT INCREASES CONTROL OVER SCHOOL LUNCHES: COLLEGE DRINKING GETTING WORSE

A report this week by a private commission revealed alarming statistics concerning an increase in heavy drinking by college students. That in itself is sad, but the number of crimes the commission found being committed by students who were drinking is even sadder.

In its report, "Rethinking Rites of Passage: Alcohol Abuse on America's Campuses," the Commission on Substance Abuse at Colleges and Universities disclosed these sobering findings:

-- Ninety-five percent of violent crimes on college campuses are alcohol related.

-- In 90 percent of all campus rapes, the assailant, the victim, or both had been drinking.

-- Sixty percent of college women who acquire sexually transmitted diseases such as herpes and AIDS were drunk at the time of infection.

The survey of students also revealed that 51 percent of college men and 37 percent of college women went on drinking binges, consuming five or more drinks at a time within weeks of the survey. The survey found that 35 percent of men and 21 percent of women had gone on binges at least twice in just the preceding two weeks.

Similar surveys in recent years have indicated that alcohol abuse by college students was on the decline. That's why the latest study is so alarming. Don't these students know that by frequent, heavy drinking at a young age, they are establishing a pattern that some will find difficult to break in later years?

It comes as no surprise that drinking often plays a role in wrongdoing, but if, in fact, 90 percent of violent crimes on campuses are alcohol related it's time to address the problem. College officials can do little to prevent students from over-drinking, but a re-emphasis on educating our youth about the consequences of alcohol abuse might give the students second thoughts about their conduct.