Fairfield-Echo.com

Friday night out for a few drinks ends in a trip to the emergency room and a run-in with the police. This is the scene for many students on college campuses week-in and week-out.

Each year nationally, nearly 700,000 college students are assaulted by students who have been drinking. More than 97,000 students ages 18 through 24 are victims of rape and sexual assault related to alcohol, according the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. An estimated 110,000 students are arrested for alcohol-related violations such as public drunkenness or driving under the influence.

Maj. Robert Coyle of the University of Dayton police said that many of these problems stem from the college environment and students being away from home for the first time. According to the Columbia Center of Addiction, 67 percent of college students drink, compared to 58 percent of those the same age who are not in college.

"People get here at 18 when they are most able to be influenced," Coyle said. "It's their first time away from authority and they are going to party because they think that's what it's all about."

At UD, there were 209 arrests in 2007 for underage consumption of alcohol. In Ohio, a person must be 21 to purchase alcoholic beverages.

Miami University students saw 276 citations in 2007 for underage drinking, which also can mean "quality of life" violations, such as loud noise, theft and property damage, said Oxford police Sgt. Jim Squance.

It also can lead to drinking and driving. A 2007 study by the Columbia Center found the U.S. had the highest rate of college students drinking and driving; 50 percent of all college males and 35 percent of all college females.

In March 2005, Miami University student David Brown was killed in a drunken driving accident when his car collided with a train at the Church Street crossing. Police said that his blood alcohol level was twice the legal limit.

When drinking leads to crime, it has consequences that may not even show up in the official statistics. That fact became painfully obvious for a Miami University senior last month, in the kind of incident that Squance said has become all too common.

While leaving a bar in uptown Oxford, the student was hit on the head from behind and knocked to the ground. Not remembering much after that, he was taken by a friend to the emergency room where he was diagnosed with a concussion and a severe black eye.

He never saw his attacker close up, but was told that it was a group of rowdy males who appeared to be severely intoxicated. The Miami senior did not press charges and his attackers were not caught.

Nationally, in 2007, about 7 percent of college students admitted to fighting after drinking, and 4 percent said they had physically injured a person while intoxicated.

In 2005, Miami University began to take a stronger stand against student drinking, working with city officials. Counseling has become a major aspect of Miami's alcohol policy.

According to Kip Alishio, Director of Miami University's Student Counseling Services, binge drinking is the most common problem of students who are referred for assessment. For a first alcohol offense, students are sent to an alcohol education program; the second time they are assessed for counseling, and if they have a third offense they are suspended from the university.

"When someone is abusing and there are no consequences, they will continue to use until the consequences become more severe. That is the nature of substance abuse," Alishio said.

The Oxford Police Department teams up with Miami University Police on Friday and Saturday nights to patrol Oxford's Uptown district. They have also created a program according to Squance known as "cops in shops" where undercover officers work as clerks in liquor establishments to catch underage drinkers. Uniformed and plain-clothes officers check bars weekly for liquor violations as well.

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