DA unveils plan to curb alcohol abuse at colleges
By Rudy Miller
March 27, 2018
Northampton County‘s district attorney announced he’ll meet with the presidents of each of the colleges in his county to discuss how to curb alcohol abuse on their campuses.
District Attorney John Morganelli said he’ll host the summit meeting sometime in May with the drug and alcohol division of the county department of human services and the presidents of Lafayette College, Lehigh University, Moravian College and Northampton Community College.
“All four indicated to me that they are enthusiastic about this opportunity to meet and discuss the issue,” Morganelli said.
Morganelli said his office has investigated many alcohol-related crimes at each of the schools over the course of his more than 25 years as district attorney. He mentioned the death last fall of Lafayette student McCrae Williams.
He died of a head injury most likely suffered due to an alcohol-related stumble, causing him to his his head on a hard bathroom floor.
“Alcohol is one of the most common contributors to injury, death and criminal behavior among young people,” Morganelli said.
He said he’s not looking for consensus among the college presidents. Rather, he wants them to pool their knowledge and “brainstorm” for ideas that could help everyone combat the problem more effectively.
The summit will be closed-door, Morganelli said.
Morganelli wants the summit to address at-risk or dependent student drinkers, the effect of alcohol abuse on the entire student body on a campus and the effect it has on the community surrounding the college.
He believes, for instance, that interventions with first-year students during the first few weeks of school, student athletes and members of fraternities and sororities could go a long way toward curbing the problem.
He thinks it might be a good idea to move Greek pledging to the second semester and to restrict it to students with a 2.5 GPA or higher. He believes a ban on hard alcohol as was recently adopted by Lehigh University fraternities could also help.
Morganelli said some have given up searching for a long-term solution to what they believe is an unsolvable problem. But the district attorney believes civic leaders can make a difference if they work together.
“Obviously college students will continue to drink. My purpose in having this summit is to avoid the kinds of tragedies we have seen on a daily basis across the United States and even here.”