May 17, 1999
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
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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.