"Lee said the university's own surveys found 47 percent of students didn't binge drink within the last two weeks, and 23 percent didn't drink at all in the last 30 days."
This statement jumped out at me - this means that 53% of students DID binge drink within the last 2 weeks and 77% of students DID drink in the last 30 days! Was Lee trying to put a good spin on a serious problem?

Actually, you'd be hard-pressed to find anyone with CASE trying to put a positive spin on the campus drinking situation. If fact, they almost always emphasize the "problem." Do you think the organization trying to raise awareness about binge drinking would then downplay the statistics?

Whether it's actually serious or not, I would say, is sort of relative. Too many people associate the scattered incidents and tragedies with the general drinking culture, when it takes a variety of bad choices -- driving, leaving places alone, drinking in extreme excess -- to actually produce a negative outcome.

Drinks don't kill people. People kill people.

Yes, underage and binge drinking are both a serious problem. I don't think Ms. Lee is trying to downplay the situation but put a face on the fact that not "everybody" drinks or drinks to intoxication, which is a common perception on most Wisconsin campuses. There may have been other choices for answers other than a simple yes or no.
Wisconsin unfortunately leads the nation in both underage and binge drinking and until we as "adults" take the problem seriously, our youth are going to continue to get the same old message that you can't have fun without alcohol. Alcohol does kill people - it's a toxic substance to the body but the alcohol industry doesn't tell you that on their advertising or labeling. Kind of reminds me of the tobacco industry who told the public for decades that tobacco use was safe. Hmmmm!