Each year, notes the article, nearly 1,700 college students between the ages of 18 and 24 die from alcohol-related injuries, according to federal statistics.  In addition to the deaths, Krupnick stresses, more than 97,000 students are victims of alcohol-related sexual assaults, and more than 696,000 per year are assaulted by another student who has been drinking.



Prevention techniques that once convinced students to reconsider indulging in alcohol no longer work, according to experts.  Anti-drinking posters on the walls and brochures profiling the dangers of drinking tucked into freshman orientation packets no longer have an impact on students, the article points out.

“Rather than resorting to scare tactics or boring pamphlets, colleges should be providing students with personalized facts about the effects of alcohol use,” said Wesley Perkins, a sociology professor at Hobart and William Smith Colleges in Geneva, N.Y., and one of the country's foremost prevention experts.

One concept used in colleges concerned about their students’ drinking problem is called “social norming”, notes the article.  This involves using polling data to convince students that their peers are not actually drinking as much as they think.  Colleges have also tried adding more activities for students who drink because they’re “bored”, including those activities which promote responsible drinking, like wine tastings and beer gardens.

Schools have also turned to small group counseling and discussion groups among interconnected groups like athletic teams or dormitory floors.  Other colleges have instituted mandatory online alcohol education courses for all incoming students in hopes of stopping drinking before it starts.