Middlebury College to Host Alcohol Symposium on

June 13-14

“From High School to College: The Binge

Drinking Dilemma; Forming Alliances” - Secondary schools

in Vermont and eight other states will attend

How can high schools and colleges work together to

address student drinking behaviors? To explore that question,

Middlebury College is sponsoring a symposium on June 13-14 titled,

“From High School to College: The Binge Drinking Dilemma;

Forming Alliances.” Symposium organizers have invited

teams of representatives from 20 secondary schools representing

a national sample of schools from which the College draws its

students. The teams include the principal or headmaster, the dean

of students or the equivalent, and a concerned parent from the

parents’ association.

Representatives from 18 schools across the country,

including three in Vermont—Middlebury Union High School, Rutland

High School, and Champlain Valley Union High School—have confirmed

that they will attend. Prior to the symposium, organizers will

collect information on the current alcohol policies and student

drinking issues at each of the participating schools.

According to Mike Schoenfeld, Middlebury College

dean of enrollment planning, the College is hosting the symposium

because alcohol abuse, particularly binge drinking, is a national

problem that affects students and learning at high schools and

colleges alike. “The research indicates that the majority

of students who indulge in binge drinking at college begin drinking

while in high school. The goal of the symposium is to examine

the binge drinking dilemma as concerned parents and educators,

and to explore ways in which colleges and high schools can work

together to address the problem,” said Schoenfeld.

Middlebury College President John M. McCardell, Jr.

will welcome the participants and launch the symposium on Sunday,

June 13. The keynote speaker will be Dr. Henry Wechsler, a nationally

recognized expert on the binge drinking epidemic on college campuses

and a lecturer on social psychology at the Harvard School of Public

Health. He will present data from his 1997 study on binge drinking

rates among college students and the negative outcomes for the

community at large.

Other symposium events on Sunday include a panel

discussion of professionals from the ranks of secondary school

headmasters and counselors.

On Monday, June 14, Yonna McShane, Middlebury College

director of health and wellness education and sexual harassment

prevention programs, will lead the morning session, “Informed

Choices: Transitioning to College with the Advent of Binge Drinking.”

The two-day event will conclude with discussions of possible outcomes

from the symposium.

“We hope that this symposium will initiate an

ongoing dialogue between administrators at Middlebury and representatives

from the participating high schools on the topic of binge drinking,”

said Schoenfeld. “We want to share information and hear suggestions.”

To date, representatives from the following 18 schools

have confirmed that they will attend: Brunswick School, Greenwich,

Conn.; Champlain Valley Union High School, Hinesburg, Vt.; Choate

Rosemary Hall, Wallingford, Conn.; Columbus School for Girls,

Columbus, Ohio; Deerfield Academy, Deerfield, Mass.; Delbarton

School, Morristown, N.J.; Hanover High School, Hanover, N.H.;

Horace Greeley School, Chappaqua, N.Y.; Lakeside School, Seattle,

Wash.; Lawrenceville School, Lawrenceville, N.J.; Lexington High

School, Lexington, Mass.; Middlebury Union High School, Middlebury,

Vt.; New Trier High School, Winnetka, Ill.; Phillips Academy,

Andover, Mass.; Rutland High School, Rutland, Vt.; St. Sebastians

School, Needham, Mass.; Taft School, Watertown, Conn.; University

School, Hunting Valley, Ohio.