Morganelli Teams Up With CHC To Address College Drinking

Sonia Oliveira (L) and Arlene Lund (R)

On July 18, NorCo DA John Morganelli met with Northampton County's four college presidents to see what could be done to discourage and reduce drinking on college campuses and at off campus housing near these colleges. "Alcohol is still the drug of choice," he said. He wants to avoid tragedies like last year's death of a Lafayette College freshman, who fractured his skull in an apparent fall after a weekend of drinking.

According to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, 1,825 college students between the ages of 18 and 24 die each year from alcohol-related unintentional injuries, including motor-vehicle crashes. Nearly 696,000 students are assaulted by another student who has been drinking. Morganelli explained a "culture of drinking" on college campuses that is both "damaging and deadly," especially to incoming freshman.

He explained that Pennsylvania has a medical amnesty law that shields underage students from prosecution if they seek medical assistance for a student who may be suffering from alcohol poisoning or worse. To ensure that students know they can seek help without fear of retribution, the Center for Humanistic Change (CHC) identified all alcohol distributors within a five-mile radius of each of Northampton County's four schools.

Morganelli has sent a letter to each distributor, asking them for their help in curbing underage drinking. "These are the fellows we want on our side," he remarked.

Sonia Oliveira, a Program Specialist with CHC, will follow up with personal visits to distributors and handouts explaining the Medical Amnesty Law. CHC Executive Director Arlene Lund explained that her agency is an alcohol, tobacco, and drug education and prevention organization. "scare , tactics do not have an impact," she warned. "We want to have a conversation."

Morganelli may expand his outreach to bars that surround colleges.

Dem Legislators Want To Make College Free

Two Dem legislators - Sen. Vincent J. Hughes, D-Philadelphia and state Rep. James Roebuck, D-Philadelphia - want to introduce legislation that will make community and state colleges free for students with a family income under $110,000. Those whose incomes are under $48,000 will get assistance for room and board. It's being called The Pennsylvania Promise. 

Morganelli Announces Summit to Curb College Drinking

Northampton County is home to four different colleges. There's Lehigh University and its nemesis, Lafayette. There's Northampton Community College. Finally, there's Moravian College, which has no rival. These schools all have one thing in common. Me. I, a bottom-feeding blogger, have actually spoken at each of these fine institutions as a guest lecturer, imparting pearls of wisdom to eager young minds. At least I think I was a lecturer. It's either that or I'm a case study in aberrant behavior. Aside from me, these schools have something else in common. Booze. As real as the opioid crisis is in other segments of society, alcohol abuse is perhaps the biggest problem facing college students. Yesterday, NorCo DA John Morganelli announced that all four of these colleges will meet with him in May to see if they can arrive at a unified approach to this problem.

Morganelli admitted at the onset that it's "naive to think we're going to stop college kids from drinking." But get this. Alcohol is a killer. According to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, drinking by college-age students (18-24) leads to 1,825 deaths, 696,000 assaults and 97,000 sexual assaults every year. It keeps prosecutors busy, but that misses the point. "We're here to save kids' lives," he stressed.

Also attending this summit will be representatives of Northampton County's very busy Drug and Alcohol Division.

Morganelli noted that drinking rates are highest in fraternities and sororities, followed by students who live on campus as well as those who play sports. It is least prevalent among students who commute and still live with their parents. The binge drinking is usually at its worse during the first few weeks of school.

Lehigh Among Top Ten Party Schools in US

According to Princeton Review's annual rating, Lehigh University is the #9 party school in the country. Although this is an improvement over its #4 rating last year, it is still somewhat of a surprise to see that much larger schools failed to even make the top 20.

The determination is made on the basis of data based on the data obtained from surveys of 137,000 students at 382 schools.

The Brown and White notes that Lehigh has 18 fraternities and 12 sororities. Four students were hospitalized last ear as a result of excessive drinking.

The Top Ten are as follows: 1) Tulane University; 2) West Virginia University; 3) Bucknell University: 4) Syracuse University; 5) University of Wisconsin-Madison; 6) University of Delaware; 7) University of Colorado-Boulder; 8) Colgate University; 9) Lehigh University; and 10) University of Maine.

AAUW Offering Scholarships

The Easton Branch of the American Association of University Women is offering scholarships to young women from area high schools planning to attend a four-year accredited college or university. Applicants must be high school seniors in the top 20 percent of their class.

Scholarships are also being offered to women whose college education was interrupted and now wish to return to college to complete their degree. All scholarships are awarded based on financial need and academic merit. Application forms are available online at http://easton-pa.aauw.net. For more information, please call Debra Ashton-Chase at 610-253-4678.

I know some young ladies who were really helped by this scholarship, and would recommend it to anyone who has a daughter eyeing up a four-year degree.

Scholarships are funded by the annual AAUW Book Fair. For information concerning membership in AAUW, contact Nancy Berry at 610-252-3332.

Scholarship Co-Chairs: Louise Sipos, 610-258-1554 or Debra Ashton-Chase, 610-253-4678