CLEVELAND - His name is Ben and he's a campus drunk trying to stay sober amid a lot of chances to party.

The 19-year-old, sticking with his first name in the style of Alcoholics Anonymous, knows how to party. He learned to drink in the fifth grade in Cleveland. By high school, he was drinking at least three nights a week, sometimes having 20 drinks of beer, gin and tequila.

"Every time I had time I would drink," said Ben, gently petting the mutt that he and his housemates at Case Western Reserve University have adopted.

Now in college, Ben is trying to stay away from booze, and Case Western is doing its part by offering him a spot at a "recovery dorm."

The residence - with sparse landscaping and bare-bones furniture - looks like a fraternity house, only cleaner and lacking a beer keg on the back porch. It's the university's experiment to help students with drinking and drug abuse problems cope with the high-pressure environment of university.

While many campuses have housing for nonsmokers and nondrinkers, student residences for recovering alcoholics and drug addicts are rare. Officials at Rutgers University, which pioneered the idea, know of only a handful of such recovery dorms, perhaps three or four nationwide.

There are an estimated 1,400 alcohol-related deaths each year among college students, most involving car accidents. A government study released in 2003 said binge drinking - defined as having five or more drinks in a sitting - was climbing fastest among 18- to 20-year-olds.

There's evidence that campus recovery programs can make a difference. Michigan's Grand Valley State University, which in August landed a $127,000 federal grant to expand programs including AA meetings six days a week, said its 5-year-old program has cut frequent binge drinking 59 percent. The number of moderate or nondrinking students was up 19 percent.

Case Western's Recovery House opened in September on a quiet street between campus and Cleveland's Little Italy neighborhood. No markings indicate its role, allowing students to keep their personal struggle confidential.

Like any campus, the 9,000-student Case gets its share of binge drinkers. About three dozen students a year require emergency room treatment for substance abuse, often alcohol, according to Jes Sellers, director of the school's counseling center.

As he spoke, he was awaiting word on a student found unconscious after a midweek drinking binge the night before.

Concern about such students prompted Case Western to move on its 10-year goal of having a residence for students trying to end alcohol and drug abuse, Sellers said. The six housemates, all men, have backgrounds that include abuse of alcohol, marijuana and cocaine.

Every resident must have an approved treatment plan that typically includes AA meetings or counseling. Alcohol and drug use is forbidden.

Still, Sellers said Recovery House should have a homelike, supportive atmosphere. Violations would be handled on a case-by-case basis. "We know relapses occur. We leave a little room," he said.

Students must pass a rigorous application process to live in Recovery House: Do you have other addictions like gambling or sex? Will you release your court records? Do you have any mental problems? Will your family support your sobriety? Do you take prescription drugs?

Paul, a 26-year-old senior and finance major with a history of drug and alcohol abuse, said moving into Recovery House has been helpful. "You have other people to hang out with who have the same problems," he said.

Living in regular student housing has too many temptations for people in recovery, according to Paul, who mentioned a buddy who interrupted Paul's studying with the offer of a marijuana joint.

At the University of Texas, which opened a Center for Students in Recovery this fall, campus counselors said drinkers and students in recovery sometimes don't mix well.

Texas doesn't have a separate dormitory for students fighting alcohol and drug abuse, but encourages them to find like-minded roommates. The Texas program includes support from peer students also recovering from drug and alcohol abuse.

"Those in recovery want to be around those who support their recovery," said Laura Jones-Swann, who coordinates recovery programs at Texas.