The first step is admitting there's a problem. (Editor's Note).

TO ANYONE WHO HAS EVER GONE THROUGH (OR KNOWS ANYONE who has gone through) a 12-step recovery program, the title of this column probably sounds familiar. It came to the mind of our publication editor, Tim Goral, after I described a disheartening situation I recently encountered at the Council of Independent Colleges' Presidents Institute. Glancing through the program guide, I spied a session entitled, "The President's Role in Addressing Campus Drinking." Now, as everyone who reads this publication knows, the issue of alcohol abuse on campus has recently sizzled on these pages like a hot tamale on a cold platter. After I penned a July/August editorial on the subject, responses and comments came flooding in for weeks--no, months. In fact, in my 17 years as an editor, I have never experienced such impassioned pro and con following one of my opinion pieces. Evidently, I had whacked a point of pain that was more like a gaping wound than a sore.

Funny thing is, I was one of only four or five attendees at the "Campus Drinking" session, and as we waited for Susan Resneck Pierce (the president of the University of Puget Sound) to begin her talk, we glanced at each other somewhat quizzically, all but wondering aloud why it was that we atone were interested in a session so obviously of national interest. We didn't have to wait long for the explanation; Dr. Pierce made no secret of the fact that the CIC was, to her knowledge, the first association to bravely sponsor such a program session.

"We knew we'd have few takers," she told us bluntly.

As it turns out, alcohol abuse on American campuses is one of those issues that every president loves to insist he's deeply concerned about--as long as no one thinks it's a problem on his campus. Slinking into a conference session on the topic is evidently a dead giveaway.

Now, despite what you may think, this editorial is not another harangue about the importance of addressing the issue of alcohol abuse on campus. I'm going to leave the illumination to Susan Pierce, who had more constructive and innovative suggestions for tackling the abysmal state of inactivity on the issue than anyone I've yet come across. To get her views on the subject--and maybe some help for your own campus drinking situation--you can sneak her an e-mail at [e-mail], or you can find out "What College Presidents Need to Know about College Drinking" at www.collegedrinkingprevention.gov, or you can wait for our coverage in an upcoming issue of University Business.

No, this editorial is not about alcohol abuse; it's about hypocrisy. Do we not applaud the actions of those individuals who see the cracks within their own corporate or government systems, and rise to correct them? Are we not educating our children to deal with daunting challenges as responsible adults, in a timely, honorable, and straightforward manner? I wonder: How many presidential speeches delivered this year will use the platform of ethics as a springboard from which to launch or solidify a presidential vision?

And yet, few are meeting head-on the really uncomfortable issues because, first, they'd have to admit that there was a problem, and admitting you've got a problem could scare away prospective applicants.

But then again ... you could gain new respect for tackling a problem that even]one else already knew you had, and was just waiting for you to deal with. Or, with a scoured-up image, you could gain new prospective applicants--the ones you couldn't attract while you were in denial, allowing campus problems to proliferate.

There's a choice to be made here, and it can't be made by picking up the pace as you pass a conference session on campus alcohol abuse--or affirmative action or campus crime or lack of adequate safety measures on campus or mismanagement of funds or any of the other dozen or so things that give college and university presidents the willies at night.

I think Tim got the title of this column dead-on.

You can reach Kathy Grayson at [e-mail].

Does your campus admissions committee practice any form of Affirmative Action? Do you have written--or unwritten--policies in place? We're looking for your views on the topic (signed or anonymous), for an upcoming feature. Please write us at: [e-mail].