I've been thinking about former UNC junior Courtland Smith. I didn't know him before his tragic death, but after reading comments from those who did, I'm sure I would have liked him.

Described as "an all-American kid," he seemed bright and accomplished, aspiring to a medical career. A leader, he was president of his fraternity and judged by others to be a great and caring friend. He died without any friends nearby.

His fraternity, Delta Kappa Epsilon, has a hard-partying reputation, but so do others on the UNC campus. Just hours before his death, Smith attended one final party at his fraternity house.

The details of his last moments of life are still under investigation, but I'm left to wonder, what will we learn, if anything, from this senseless death? One fact has clearly emerged -- whatever happened during the early morning hours that took Smith from the DKE house to the spot of his death more than 60 miles away, alcohol was a contributing factor.

Some defend excessive youthful drinking as a "rite of passage," as if use of alcohol is something magical or defining about adult life. The only beneficiary of this enabling and fantastic thinking is the alcohol industry.

Plainly stated, alcohol is an addictive drug, and is the nation's greatest drug problem. On a broader scale, alcohol misuse is the third-leading preventable cause of death in the U.S. Research concludes, without drastic change, that as many as 300,000 of today's collegians will die of alcohol-related causes.

The death of Courtland Smith doesn't just affect him. There will be consequences for other students, faculty and the university community as a whole. UNC Chancellor Holden Thorp, already concerned about the problem of student abusive drinking, has acted swiftly and boldly to confront this issue. I am grateful for his excellent leadership.

Alcohol abuse is a campus problem of long-standing. While significant progress has been made in reducing abusive drinking among age contemporary non-students, destructive drinking among collegians is headed in the opposite direction. Researchers conclude that this pattern of unhealthy and risky drinking is uniquely a problem of collegiate culture.

Binge drinking among collegians, according to the National Institutes of Health, has increased to 45 percent of college drinkers. At the same time, campus alcohol-related deaths have increased steadily, now reaching their highest level. With underage drinking increasing in frequency and intensity, studies find college freshmen now spend more time drinking than studying.

We will never know what Courtland Smith would have become, the lives he may have touched in a powerful way. But how many more Courtland Smith's will it take before we have finally had enough of youthful abuse of alcohol on our campuses?

It's time to stop talking -- it's time to start acting. Maybe that will be how we can best remember the brief life of Courtland Smith -- his death became a catalyst for a university and community collaboration to end the culture of excessive youthful drinking that exists in Chapel Hill. What a fine and lasting tribute to a young life well-lived.

Ronald E. Bogle is a retired Superior Court judge and works with the Coalition for Alcohol and Drug Free Teenagers.