DAVID HARDEN/Arizona Daily Wildcat Young, white males have the highest reported binge-drinking rate, according to a study completed by the College of Alcohol Studies.

As university officials move forward in their attempts to increase campus diversity, they may be cutting down on binge drinking, too.

Young, white males have the highest reported binge-drinking rate, according to a study by the College of Alcohol Studies at the Harvard School of Public Health.

The study does not suggest universities change policies on admissions, but does recommend that colleges look at the benefit of a more diverse campus, stated Henry Wechsler, the study's chief principal investigator.

There are roughly 37,000 students at the UA, and more than 68 percent of them are white. Also, more than half of the students are 21 or younger.

The UA is in the process of increasing diversity on campus, and is aiming to become a Hispanic serving institution, where 25 percent of the student body is Hispanic.

Director of Residence Life Jim Van Arsdel said that decreasing the number of white young males would decrease the number of students who fit the statistical criteria of a binge drinker.

But, reducing binge drinking may not be that simple, he added.

"There are typical things young white males do, but that goes deeper than just using alcohol," Van Arsdel said.

Wechsler defined binge drinking as having five or more drinks in a row at least once in the past two weeks for males and in the past four weeks for females. UAPD Sgt. Eugene Mejia said that age, not gender, has more of an effect on who binge drinks.

"We have a consistent problem with alcohol on our campus," he said. "The younger the student the more likely they are to participate in binge drinking."

People between the ages of 18 and 20 are said to make up more than 30 percent of all binge drinkers, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Web site.

Mejia said younger students are more likely to get intoxicated because of lack of experience.

"They are not familiar with the effects of large amounts of alcohol at one time," he said.

Mejia said males on campus probably drink to a greater intoxication level than females, but not in all cases. "We have seen both the effects of males' and females' binge drinking," he said.

Van Arsdel said having older students in the residence halls helps overall living situations, because older students are less likely to binge drink.

"The older students will have had a lot of experiences that the freshmen may be going through," he said.

More than 97 percent of all students in the residence halls are under the legal drinking age of 21, Van Arsdel said.

The residence halls allow students over 21 to drink alcohol in their rooms, he said.

"It is for their personal consumption," Van Arsdel said. "They can't take it down to the lounge and have a party."

Carolyn Collins, director of health promotion and prevention services, said she doesn't have information to say for certain if binge drinking among white men is a problem on campus.

She said binge drinking is generally not a problem among the few minorities who have been surveyed by her department.

Overall, 69 percent of UA students have four or fewer drinks when they go out, Collins said.

"Most of our students are moderate to light drinkers, if they choose to drink at all," Collins said. "Those students who binge drink are a minority on campus."

The Harvard study, "Watering Down the Drinks: The Moderating Effects of College Demographics on Alcohol Use of High-Risk Groups," surveyed data from 52,312 students at 114 predominantly white colleges.

The study followed surveys completed by the colleges in 1993, 1997, 1999 and 2001.

Kaitlyn Voyce, a communication freshman, said that the findings in the study don't make sense. She said race has nothing to do with who drinks heavily, but she thinks gender does.

"Males are more likely to binge drink," Voyce said. "Drinking is a prevalent part of college life."

Dean Nichols, an economics junior, also refutes the findings presented by the study.

"That is absolutely ridiculous," Nichols said. "Drinking is a common thing. I don't see a problem with drinking at the UA."