When Ohio governor and Republican presidential candidate John Kasich last week responded to a question from a college freshman about what he could do as president to make her feel safe from rape or sexual harassment on campus, he spoke from the heart as a parent. Kasich has teenagers, twin daughters, who will all too soon have Dad blinking back the tears as he drops them off at college.

When Ohio governor and Republican presidential candidate John Kasich last week responded to a question from a college freshman about what he could do as president to make her feel safe from rape or sexual harassment on campus, he spoke from the heart as a parent. Kasich has teenagers, twin daughters, who will all too soon have Dad blinking back the tears as he drops them off at college.

First, he detailed how he has pushed for Ohio universities to provide women with confidential ways to report sexual assault, preserve evidence and seek justice. Then he said such policies should be extended nationwide.

Then he offered some personal advice to the student: �Don�t go to parties where there�s lots of alcohol. Ok? Don�t do that.�

Predictably, some took offense, or saw a political opportunity in portraying the advice as offensive. They called his fatherly advice �outrageous� and �out of touch� and painted Kasich as a caveman.

Someone is out of touch. It is not Kasich. Studies conclusively show that women can reduce their odds of being victimized by staying away from drinking or, importantly, men who have been drinking. And Kasich�s advice is good for sons as well as daughters.

Alcohol dulls the senses. It impairs judgment, blinds victims to red flags and gives license to libido. Campus drinking (fraternity parties, bar crawls, beer pong) reduces social unease as young people try to fit in with new friends in an unfamiliar environment. It�s a recipe for nonconsensual sex by force or incapacitation or, at least, a legally treacherous misunderstanding between two impaired partners.

Kasich�s response was blunt. He failed to attach the usual politically correct stipulation, �The victim is never to blame,� though he did later qualify his statement. Nevertheless, this was superb advice that has been bequeathed by countless parents as common sense. But research findings by others who must be equally �out of touch� � at top universities and foundations � also support Kasich�s advice.

�One cannot uncouple the role of alcohol and sexual assault,� said a report issued in September by Harvard�s University Task Force on the Prevention of Sexual Assault. More than 60 percent of surveyed respondents who�d said they�d been assaulted by force reported alcohol was involved.

�Conservative estimates of sexual-assault prevalence suggest that 25 percent of American women have experienced sexual assault, including rape. Approximately one-half of those cases involve alcohol consumption by the perpetrator, victim or both,� wrote researchers from the University of Michigan-Dearborn and Wayne State University in a study for the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.

�Alcohol is the date-rape drug. That�s what I tell people,� Stuart Dunnings III, county prosecutor in Lansing, Michigan, told The Washington Post last year. The paper wrote that its Post-Kaiser Family Foundation poll found that �Heavy drinking is one of the most significant predictors of sexual assault in college.�

Meanwhile, Kasich responded to the backlash by noting that he spearheaded putting $2 million in the current state budget toward stopping sexual violence at state universities. That's hardly the action of someone who blames the victim.

Women are not to blame for being assaulted, and rapists must be held accountable. But Kasich had it right: Women are safer and more able to avoid a dangerous situation if they are clear-minded, or at least conscious. Kasich gave sobering advice.