'Hidden treasure' properly cracking down

With alcohol poisonings among Southeast Missouri State University students running about one a week since the start of the fall semester, university officials have the right to be worried.

Kevin Stewart, coordinator of the school's substance abuse prevention and education program, points to some alarming statistics uncovered through an in-house survey.

Seems a slim majority of students are going out at least occasionally with the intent of becoming as intoxicated as possible. Eighty-two percent of students drink alcoholic beverages (certainly a higher percentage than students age 21 and over). Fifty-three percent are binge drinkers, consuming five or more drinks at a single sitting. The national average is 46 percent.

And, most disturbing, 40 percent say they drink and drive.

Yes, drinking is a college rite of passage for many. But all can agree that getting so drunk that one requires medical treatment or getting drunk and then getting behind the wheel is inappropriate under any circumstances.

So it's a positive development that the university and Cape Girardeau police are going to try a stepped-up combination of enforcement and education to make things better.

Police say the biggest problem is off-campus keg parties, where visitors pay $5 each for a cup that entitles them to perpetual refills. Those who hold such parties have a huge amount of liability should someone get hurt, and they can be charged with selling alcohol to minors and liquor without a license and fined up to $1,000. One to five years in jail is a possibility too.

The university is trying to educate students through classroom programs. Individual counseling is available for those involved in alcohol-related incidents.

Hopefully, these methods will work to bring Southeast under the national average for dangerous drinking habits. Of course, nothing can substitute for strong parental guidance before the college years. Once students are out from under their parents' oversight, they can do what they want, but strong values instilled in youth can help keep them on the right path.

A combination of all these approaches is especially important because the burgeoning university has some important things to protect these days.

The university recently was named to the list of the nation's 30 "hidden treasures" in post-secondary education. The information is released in Kaplan Inc.'s "The Unofficial, Unbiased Insider's Guide to the 320 Most Interesting Colleges." It is commonly used by guidance counselors to help high school students decide where they want to go.

With record enrollment and such an honorable designation, it is important for Southeast to protect its reputation.