A US college has promised to combat binge-drinking following the tragic death of a teen student who consumed large quantities of champagne and cheap vodka.
On January 20, Erica Buschick, 18, was found dead in his dorm room after a night of heavy-drinking with her friends at Miami University in Ohio.
She had returned to campus the day before after spending time at her family home in Gurnee, Illinois, over the festive period.
An incident report released last week labelled her untimely death as the result of 'high-risk alcohol consumption'.
But less than a month after Erica drank herself to death, 21 students at Miami University in Ohio were hospitalised over four days last weekend due to alcohol consumption.
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Police confirmed the popular teen had drank large quantities of champagne, vodka and had fallen multiple times while partying with friends, reports The Miami Student.
Erica and her roommate began drinking at 10pm on January 19 – consuming two bottles of champagne between them.
The pair then filled up an empty water bottle with vodka and headed to a house party.
By 10:45pm, the tragic teen and her friend had finished all the vodka and began drinking more of the strong spirit which was being shared around at the gathering.
The vodka was described as cheap in the report and had been poured into an expensive Grey Goose-branded bottle.
After ‘pregaming’ at the house party, the group headed out to a bar where Erica was refused entry for being too drunk.
The teen and her roommate eventually hailed a cab home but Erica reportedly fell flat on her face when exiting the vehicle.
The taxi driver had to carry the 18-year-old student up to her room as she was unable to walk.
He laid Erica down on a bean bag and told her friend to look after the vulnerable girl.
Her roommate uploaded a picture of Erica lying unconscious on the bean bag to Instagram before falling asleep at around 1am.
Police have since deleted the disturbing picture of the teen lying unresponsive from social media.
The next morning her shocked friend found Erica cold and lying still, prompting her to call authorities.
Officers arrived at the dorm just before 9am and pronounced the teen student dead shortly after.
Miami University President Gregory Crawford released a statement confirming the college would take a ‘holistic assessment’ to curb binge-drinking among its student.
But less than a month after Erica’s shocking death, more than 20 Miami University students have been rushed to hospital with alcohol-related illnesses over a four day period, reports WLWT5.
Officials confirmed that seven of the students were drinking on campus while 14 of those hospitalised were not.
Jayne Brownell, vice president of student affairs, said: “That is a very high number. That is out of the ordinary for us.”
The college is promoting its Good Samaritan campaign which urges students to call for help when their friends drink too much.
Students who seek help for their dorm mates will not be punished by the school.
Bromwell said: "It takes that fear of getting in trouble away, and they actually do call for help, and that's what happened this weekend.
"We also are looking at the role of hard alcohol on campus because we know that when you see high blood alcohol levels, the only way you get there is from drinking hard alcohol pretty quickly.”
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