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TRENTON — The Assembly Education Committee today approved legislation sponsored by Senate Education Chairwoman Shirley Turner and Senate President Richard J. Codey that would create a taskforce to examine best practices to curb the growing problem of underage and binge drinking on college and university campuses.

“I applaud the Assembly for moving this bill forward,” said Senator Turner (D-Mercer). “This isn’t about crafting a one-size-fits-all alcohol policy for all of New Jersey’s institutions of higher learning, but rather working to set up a basic set of guidelines for campuses to follow when dealing with underage drinking. This task force will employ a dynamic approach to engage stakeholders that cover every area of the issue, as well as parents so that communication can start early to address the issue before it becomes a problem.”

TRENTON – The full Senate today unanimously approved legislation sponsored by Senate President Richard J. Codey and Senate Education Chairwoman Shirley Turner that would create a taskforce to examine best practices to curb the growing problem of underage and binge drinking on college and university campuses.

“After we examined all of the alcohol policies submitted to us by state colleges and universities, it was clear that our schools were all over the map when it comes to addressing this serious issue,” said Sen. Codey (D-Essex). “Underage drinking is a timeless problem, so rather than reinventing the wheel, we should identify the best practices out there, the ones that have really made a difference, so that we can model them at other institutions. At the very least, we hope to find ways to encourage responsibility, but ultimately we hope this undertaking will save lives.”