A recent University Senate report revealed that the number of intoxicated students transported to the hospital as of early March in the 2015-16 academic year was almost on par with the number of intoxicated students transported in the full 2014-15 academic year.

The report, which was distributed by the Senate Committee on Student Life at the Senate’s Oct. 12 meeting, demonstrated a much-discussed issue surrounding college campuses: the rise of alcohol consumption and alcohol intoxications among undergraduate students.

As of early March, the number of Syracuse University students transported to the hospital for alcohol-related reasons neared the high 200s, according to the report, with an average of 10 to 12 transports weekly. With more than two months left in the 2015-16 academic year at that point, that number approached the total number of transports reported in the entirety of the 2014-15 academic year, according to the report.

The report does not provide recommendations to SU on how to create or improve alcohol-related policies. A report with more detailed recommendations will be delivered to the senate next semester, said José Marrero-Rosado, the chair of the Student Life Committee and a senior biochemistry and anthropology double major.

The report’s purpose was to make the university community aware of the rise in alcohol intoxication on campus and to put pressure on the university to instill or support stricter rules on drinking both on and off campus, Marrero-Rosado said.

“What we just wanted to do with this report is for people to know the numbers and that this is a problem,” he said. “Many students and even professors don’t know that alcohol intoxication is a problem on campus.”

Though the report does not detail explicit recommendations, it does include information about a proposed city of Syracuse ordinance that SU opposed, which is an ordinance that would hold landlords accountable for the behavior of tenants.

Under that ordinance, according to the report, landlords would need to prohibit their tenants from hosting parties on the property and would reserve their right to terminate the lease contract if the tenant did not follow that rule.

That initiative has been successful in reducing parties and alcohol abuse in the college cities where it has been implemented, according to the report.

The report also details a city of Syracuse ordinance that prohibits the consumption of alcohol in public parking lots, which SU does not abide by, according to the report.

The Student Life Committee discussed possible reasons for the rise in alcohol consumption, including the possibility that SU’s No. 1 party school ranking by The Princeton Review in 2014 influenced more socially-minded students to come to SU “because they know that Syracuse University is known for having a very big community that likes to party,” Marrero-Rosado said.

Marrero-Rosado said that in a meeting with Pam Peter, director of SU’s Office of Student Rights and Responsibilities, the Student Life Committee learned the results from SU’s freshman-oriented survey “Think About It” showed many students reporting they already had alcohol problems before attending the university.

“We are talking about students underage that, before coming to the university they’re already drinking and not even in a safe way,” Marrero-Rosado said, adding that the idea is “alarming.”

Peter did not return a request to comment for this story.

The committee also figured that the increase in alcohol consumption could be partially attributed to students who are not inclined to drink or party but do so anyway because they “don’t feel that there’s anything else to do,” Marrero-Rosado said.

The Student Life Committee has met with the Office of Student Activities and the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Affairs to develop recommendations regarding more on-campus activities for students to have more options than going out to drink, Marrero-Rosado said.

“We hope to submit recommendations regarding more activities that could happen on campus for students so that the students that were not thinking in the first place to go out and drink, that they have more options rather than going with the flow,” Marrero-Rosado said.

Published on October 26, 2016 at 9:33 pm

Contact Alexa: atorrens@syr.edu