A radio and television campaign publicized the volume, and U. S. News and World Report ran a 22-page condensation of the study. It is not surprising then that Drinking in College is currently the best seller of the Yale University Press, and its representative, Mark Carroll '50, stated, "We expect to have a second printing soon." Carroll added that it was "popular mostly among college deans."

Reading through Drinking in College one finds that author Bacon was serious when he stated, "The prevalence of wild drinking in college is just a myth, and I hope we're burying it forover."

But Bacon was equally serious and supported by fact in adding. "This doesn't mean that there aren't wild, crazy incidents. A small percentage of students--perhaps four percent of the whole--are having serious trouble, and this group needs all the help it can get."

The source for these conclusions and for the book Drinking in College was a survey begun six years ago. Since that time 17,000 American students have answered a 40-minute questionnaire on the subject; approximately 96.6 percent of the polls were usable thanks to the cooperative and sincere manner in which the questionnaires were handled.

According to the authors, the 17,000 students came from 27 colleges, "selected to represent different types: public, private, and sectarian institutions; coeducational, men's and women's; white and Negro; urban and rural; with large and small enrollments; and in different regions of the country."

It was agreed that none of the schools would be identified in the book, and only four colleges refused a request to participate in the canvass. One of these had a strict regulation against drinking; hence it was afraid that its undergraduates would emulate their professors by seeking the protection of the Fifth Amendment to avoid answering the questionnaires.

In general, the findings of the Center agreed with the opinions of temperance educator Harry S. Warner, who stated, "College alcoholic pleasures, customs, and consequences are not different from those elsewhere in influential society.

"Notwithstanding age-old traditions peculiar to colleges, honored and retained here and there, and the outbreaks of enthusiasm moistened with alcohol after big games, at fraternity, alumni, and other group affairs, liquor enjoyment is not 'collegiate.' Resort to it and dependence upon it follow social, family, and community standards."

Drinking the Same

Hence college drinkers are no different from the rest of the 75 million Americans who indulge. The same types and classes of people drink whether they are in a university or not.

Bacon's particular study showed that 74 percent of U. S. college students use alcoholic beverages, with twice as many female abstainers as male. The wealthier the undergraduates are the more likely they are to drink. Also, the incidence of drinking was found to be greater in Jews and Catholics than in Protestants, and less than half of the Mormons imbibe. Students of Russia ndescent were the most likely to drink, with French, Italian, and German descendants following closely in that order.

The survey also revealed that drinking increases with each year in college. About 30 percent more senior women indulge than freshmen. It is important to remember, however, that the poll showed that about three-fourths of the drinkers had their first taste of alcohol before entering college, with a good number of these having been initiated before the age of 11.

Most of the students closely followed the practice but not the preachment of their parents. Three-fifths of the men and one-third of the women drank although ordered not to by their parents. About 70 percent of the students ignored church instructions to abstain, while around 85 percent who were told to restrain themselves by their school teachers drank anyway.

Social Reasons

But in general, the undergraduates drank for social reasons rather than for spite, according to the canvass. It was usually a matter of complying with customs, belonging to a fraternity, or endeavoring to get along better on dates. Only 47 percent of the males drank "to get high," and a mere 17 percent reported that they indulged "to get drunk."