WICHITA, Kansas -- There are more signs that drinking on college campuses remains as popular as ever as K-State officials announced Monday they are investigating a hazing incident involving alcohol at a fraternity house on Sunday. The student drank too much, became unconscious and doctors said he had severe alcohol poisoning. He is OK now, but others aren’t so lucky. Binge drinking continues to take a deadly toll on college campuses.
In August 2008, 18-year-old Austin Lee Slanker Wilson was on an Ag scholarship at Coffeyville Community College. It was an exciting time and like many students his age, that included alcohol.
One night in his dorm room Austin drank so much that he passed out and later died from what authorities say was acute alcohol poisoning.
"Students were afraid of getting into trouble,” said Janet Slanker, Austin’s mother. “If he was that sick, where was the responsibility of fellow students to do something?”Binge drinking is an issue that goes way beyond Coffeyville. According to the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, 1,700 college age students die each year from excessive drinking whether it be from car accidents or alcohol poisoning."I think that the average student probably drinks more than they need to,” said a KU student. At the University of Kansas the issue has perhaps never been more front and center. This past spring two KU students became part of the statistics. An 18-year-old freshman died from falling off the roof of a dorm – an autopsy showed alcohol in his body. And a 19-year-old died after drinking at a fraternity house. His blood alcohol limit was four times the legal limit. In part because of these tragedies, KU has several new regulations on the books."We have implemented a policy to notify students and their parents if the student has consumed alcohol two times, has caused a violation of university policy, we send a letter to the parents,” said Marlesa Roney with the University of Kansas.All incoming students under 22 must complete an online alcohol awareness course. And the Student Senate is considering a controversial rule that would allow random checks of dorm rooms for alcohol and drugs. It’s a policy already in place in Coffeyville where Austin Wilson died.Still, his mother says more should have been done."We send our kids that are in sense young adults, but yet they still need monitoring and watching, and where was the school doing this?” said Janet Slanker."He had only been here 48 hours, and we hadn't had a chance to get to know him,” said Jill Koslosky with Coffeyville Community College.Koslosky says once the school learns a student has a problem of any kind they get referred to the appropriate sources. That’s in addition to the dorm checks, which are done twice a month."We basically beg the parents to make sure they've had some very serious conversations from everything from alcohol to drugs to even money management,” Koslosky said.Either way, no matter how many regulations are put in place, officials and students admit heavy drinking isn’t going away.In Coffeyville, the reminders are all over campus as schools take the issue to heart. The real question is will students do the same?
