The move away from the bottle comes as colleges around the country are under pressure to crack down on binge drinking and rowdy parties that lead to raunchy behavior, car accidents, fights - and death.

This fall, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology agreed to pay $6 million to the family of freshman Scott Krueger, who drank himself to death at a fraternity initiation three years ago.

In the past two years, the University of Florida has suspended a fifth of its 25 Greek chapter houses for illegal drinking, hazing and out-of-control parties. Three years ago, the University of Miami began its own crackdown after former sophomore Michael Schoeppner pleaded guilty to false imprisonment in the case of
two freshman women who were sexually assaulted during a booze-flowing fraternity party.

But what the crusading universities have found is that one of their most effective weapons is the students themselves. More and more, they are turned off by excessive drinking - which might cost them grades and future careers.

It's increasingly competitive, says University of Miami Assistant Dean of Students Jennifer Brack. They don't want to risk getting a B when they could get an A.

MAKING THE GRADE

A university poll of about 500 students in the fall of 1999 found the best students were the lightest drinkers: A students consume an average of 3.6 drinks a week, compared with 10.6 drinks for failing students.

Two-thirds of those who responded said they had four or fewer drinks per party. Sixty-six percent had turned down an offer for drugs or alcohol within the past month.

Officials at the University of Florida, which also participated in the national Core Alcohol and Other Drug Survey, found similar patterns. Most Gators have zero to four drinks (when they party). Our slogan: No one likes a sloppy Gator, says Tavis Glassman, a Florida administrator who is campus alcohol and drug resource center coordinator.

Nationwide, fraternity culture has been moving toward more sober, responsible behavior for the past three years.

In 1997, Phi Delta Theta and Sigma Nu became the first national fraternities to announce they would go dry. Nine other fraternities have since set deadlines for alcohol-free housing, most of which will be phased in over the next three years.

Thirty-nine of the 57 other fraternities in the national conference are allowing their existing chapters to keep serving alcohol but have decided that all newly chartered chapters will begin life as dry houses.

Sororities, which have traditionally banned alcohol from their houses, have signed on as well: A new resolution from the National Panhellenic Conference prohibits its chapters from co-hosting a party at a frat house that serves alcohol.

Experts define binge drinking as five drinks for men - four for women - over at least four hours, says Dr. Robert Dollinger, director of health care and wellness at Florida International University.

Dollinger adds that alcohol is the No. 1 health-care issue at campuses because excessive drinking often leads to potentially dangerous situations. Intoxicated students, for example, are more likely to have unsafe sex - and contract sexually transmitted diseases, including AIDS, Dollinger says.

The times have changed: People have to be a lot more responsible, he says. The stakes are higher.

Big penalties

Today's students also have to worry about expulsion. The University of Florida, for example, automatically suspends a student for a drunken driving arrest.

The policy began last year as part of the university's crackdown on excessive drinking.

The University of Miami now calls parents if their sons or daughters are caught intoxicated or drinking under the state-required age of 21. Counseling is mandatory. In the past three years, alcohol-related reprimands almost have tripled, from 44 to 102 as of the school year that ended in May.

Last February, the Florida Board of Regents ordered state universities to notify moms and dads when drinking or drug-taking students under the age of 21 are in accidents, break the law or violate university rules.

Colleges also are encouraging high schools to teach more alcohol awareness. More than half of all binge drinkers begin in high school - or even junior high, Glassman says.

High schools should get more involved, says Maria Alvarez, associate vice president for student services at Barry University in Miami. While I don't have any scientific evidence, my belief - my gut - is there's a lot of drinking going on among high school students.

That's why Brack volunteers to talk at high schools about responsible drinking.

If they don't learn early, some may develop drinking problems that last well beyond their years in school, says Brack, who is also assistant director for the Center of Alcohol and Other Drug Education at the university.

This semester, Florida Memorial College began providing incoming freshmen with Alcohol 101, a popular interactive CD-ROM that shows students how to drink responsibly, even tabulating how much they can drink, based on their gender and weight, says Dr. Woodrow Wilson, head of the college's counseling center.

The college also teaches young adults how to have fun at parties - without drinking.

We want to break the association between drinking and social activities, Wilson says.

Youths also need to be shown early on how to handle stress without drinking, says Barry Gregory of Florida Atlantic University's counseling center. He just wrote a workbook about responsible drinking, showing students how to find other ways to cope with the problems of life.

The best examples, he says, are other students.

Radford, for example, prides herself that she has a full college life without drinking heavily.