Any college campus has a drinking scene, but UW-Madison is particularly known for its party school status. Here at Madison, students take the expression "work hard, play hard" seriously. But some worry an alcohol-based culture leads to expectations that pressure students to drink.
Although the 2012 U.S. News & World Report ranks UW-Madison among the top 10 national academic institutions, UW-Madison is nonetheless stereotyped as the party school full of beer-guzzling students living for the weekend.
Earning the ranking
There may be some truth to this stereotype as The Princeton Review's list of party schools for 2012 ranks UW-Madison No. 14.
According to Rob Franek, senior vice president and publisher at the Princeton Review and author of Best 376 Colleges, there are five different factors that the Princeton Review looks at when creating the party school ranking list: the rate of alcohol, beer and drug consumption, the hours of study outside the classroom, and the popularity of the fraternity and sorority system on campus.
Dan, 18, a freshman in Sellery Hall who declined to give his last name, said he knows four or five fellow residents who have been sent to detox after binge drinking.
However, he said he does not think many students actually suffer from alcohol problems.
"A lot of students at Madison have alcohol abuse and not alcohol problems," Dan said. "They get into trouble and have problems because they over drink, but they're not dependent on alcohol."
Associate Residence Life Director Larry Davis said at the beginning of the year residence life often sees a "handful of students" who go to detox and the majority of these students "hardly drank in high school."
"It's so much a part of Wisconsin culture"
Whether or not first-year students factor in the party-school stereotype when deciding on colleges, their behavior once they arrive on campus can be affected by their preconceived notions of the school.
"There's certainly for many students an expectancy that [drinking] is going to be part of what being at Madison is about," Dr. Sarah Van Orman, director of University Health Services said. "A lot of alcohol is viewed as a point of pride."
The percentage of students who participate in high-risk drinking in Madison is significantly higher than it is on the national level and compared to the rest of UW System campuses, according to Van Orman.
Echoing Davis' observation that freshmen sometimes take drinking too far, Van Orman said high-risk drinking is in fact most prevalent among younger students at the university.
According to Van Orman, many students who abuse alcohol suffer consequences including sleep deprivation and academic or social struggles but do not change their behavior.
"Part of the challenge is it's so much a part of Wisconsin culture," said Orman. "I think that sometimes there's a sense even on campus that drinking, and a lot of drinking, is part of the identity here."
Davis said he thinks freshmen's high consumption of alcohol may be due to feeling pressured to live up to the standard of a "typical" UW-Madison student.
"I think that students are most influenced by other students," Davis said. "It's the high-risk behavior that's affiliated with drinking that concerns me."
Back to the BASICS
To combat early alcohol abuse, the university instituted the Brief Alcohol Screening and Intervention for College Students (BASICS) this fall.
When students violate the university's alcohol policies, they are required to attend mandatory educational intervention. First-offense violators are referred to Group BASICS, while repeat offenders are required to attend two one-on-one substance abuse counseling sessions.
But Dan thinks that UW-Madison's party school image is not going anywhere.
"I think Wisconsin will always be known as a party school," Dan said. "I don't think the school will be able to escape its stereotype of being a drinking school."
