Professor calls for ban on binge drinking

Feb 18 2008 by Sam Wood, The Journal

A UNIVERSITY may try to curb binge drinking among its students after one of its experts raised the problem at Downing Street.

Professor Oliver James, a liver disease specialist and head of the medical faculty at Newcastle University, has been in discussions with Prime Minister Gordon Brown on the subject, saying he was “appalled” by the level of drinking during Newcastle’s Freshers’ Week.

He is so concerned about the impact of binge drinking on students’ health that he has banned posters advertising of cheap drinks and pub crawls from his own faculty and feels the rest of the university should follow suit. A spokesman for the university last night said that it was considering his call.

Many clubs and societies offer subsidised drinking during Freshers’ Week, hoping to entice students to sign up to them during the first week of a new university year.

The Government is now thought to be looking at whether the Higher Education Funding Council, which distributes public money to universities and colleges, could use its powers to ban institutions from encouraging excessive drinking on their campuses.

Prof James said: “I was very concerned and appalled by the level of drinking which goes on in Freshers’ Week, not just at this university but at every one in the country.

“This kind of thing just imprints the binge drinking culture. It is no longer just a week, at many universities it can last for two or even three weeks. And it is not just for first years, all students are now taking part.

“They are being encouraged to go out and get blind drunk for a fortnight.

“I didn’t think that was right for a medical faculty and that is why I banned posters advertising cheap drinks from the faculty.

“I discussed it with the faculty steering group and they agreed that it should not be allowed.”

He added that he thought other departments at the university should follow suit.

The university itself has been undertaking an internal review of drinking and could draw up new guidelines on the subject when the review is completed.

A spokesman for Newcastle University said: “Newcastle offers many opportunities for students to drink but this is a national problem, not just something which affects our university.

“It would be very hard, almost impossible for us to ban many of the activities of Freshers’ Week. If students organise their own pub crawls there is little we can do about it.

“But we could ban the advertising of such events throughout our campus and that is something we will consider when the report is finished. We will wait to see what the findings of the report are before we make any decisions but the health of our students is a major priority.”