Alcohol: Many students drink with caution; some do not drink at all
Continued from page 1A
A study conducted by Professor
Henry Weschler, director of the Har
vard School of Public Health Alcohol
Study, ranked the University as a mod
erate binge-drinking campus, Associ
ate Dean of Students and Director of
the Office of Student Life Laura Blake
Jones said.
“We fall on the high end of the
moderate,” Jones said. “We’re high
enough that we’re... concerned.”
Why is drinking so
pervasive in college?
The ability to make one’s own deci
sions away from parents’ watchful
eyes may be part of the reason that
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drinking is so ingrained in college life.
“They’re away from home and they
have all this freedom,” sophomore Al
lison Blass said. “They can get drunk
every weekend. It’s their life.”
Although Blass said she does not
drink and many of her friends are not
partiers, she hears stories about people
who often go to bars and parties.
Junior Brandon Rhodes said “free
dom and license” play a big role in
drinking among students. For some it
is like a “rite of passage,” when they
get to college.
“We have a culture built up around
it,” he said.
Rhodes is quick to point out that
“there’s nothing wrong with alcohol
in and of itself,” but when drinking
is done in excess, “it’s escapism
and wasteful.”
Studies at the University show that
drinking tends to be higher among
younger students and especially in the
first term of school, Blake Jones said.
“The first few weeks of college be
fore midterms are due and you’ve got
all the new students who are transi
tioning to a new environment is, on
every campus that I’ve been a part of,
always a period of time when high-risk
behaviors are happening,” she said.
University health educator Ramah
Leith said drinking may stem not only
from die experience of freedom, espe
cially for students leaving home for the
first time, but some may also see it as
an expectation— they have to drink
because they think they see everyone
else drinking.
“In some students’ minds (drinking)
is the college experience,” Leith said.
Stadstics have shown, however, that
many students overestimate how
many students drink and how much
these students drink, Leith said.
In a Health Center survey conduct
ed in 2002, 24.2 percent of students
surveyed said they drank only one or
two drinks per sitdng; 31.4 percent had
three to four drinks, while 23 percent
had more than five drinks. However, in
the same survey, when students were
asked how much they thought their
peers drink when they go out, 30.4
percent estimated it was three to four
drinks, while 65.2 approximated that it
was more than five drinks.
Leith said if students who drink
keep seeing the same people over and
over again at parties, they may assume
that other people always spend their
time drinking and it’s the social nomi.
“If you’re in that situation, you feel
that everyone is drinking,” Leith said.
Such students also tend to surround
themselves with other students who
drink a lot, said University health edu
cator Annie Dochnahl.
“Students tend to drink up to the ex
pectations of their social group,”
Dochnahl said.
Sophomore Carly Beebe agreed.
Beebe said some students may keep
drinking past their limits if other peo
ple also keep drinking.
“There’s no one there telling them
to stop,” Beebe said. “They may be
past the point of being able to stop
(by themselves).”
Some students will say they are just
social drinkers, but the exact definition
of social drinking is a bit hazy for
some, Leith said.
“Social drinking is not T go out
with my friend on Friday night and
get wasted,’” Leith said. “That’s not
social drinking.”
Leith said social
drinking means
drinking moder
ately and does not
involve chugging
alcohol, drinking
games or alcohol
intake to the point
of blacking out.
She said while
students who
drink excessively
may not necessar
ily be alcoholics,
they may not rec
ognize that they
have a problem.
“They are not
just social drink
ing, they’re drink
ing to get drunk, Leith said.
Social pressure is a factor
in alcohol consumption
Freedom aside, students may also
drink because alcohol is packaged as
very appealing.
“It’s sexed up,” Rhodes said.
Dochnahl said alcohol is associated
with “good times.”
“Advertising by the alcohol industry
shows drinking as risk-free, sexy fun,”
Dochnahl said, adding that the hang
overs are never on display; what peo
ple see is fit, young, beautiful people
enjoying their lives.
“When we are trapped in that imag
ing, it becomes part of our psychologi
cal landscape,” Dochnahl said.
Many also say that alcohol acts as a
“social lubricant.” When some people
drink they feel more at ease or outgo
ing, said Edel Davenport, associate di
rector of the University Counseling and
Testing Center.
Davenport said alcohol becomes
part of the process of making connec
tions and bonding with other students.
“They want to fit in,” Davenport
said, adding that by drinking, people
who are shy or have a low self-esteem
may lose some of their inhibitions. “It’s
kind of seductive in that way.”
Leith agrees.
“It’s just an unhealthy way they’ve
found to be more social,” she said.
Though for some students drinking
may be all about having fun or creat
WHAT IS HIGH-RISK
DRINKING?
Chugging, drinking games, shots
Drinking to get drunk
Drinking too much on an empty stomach
Mixing alcohol with medication or illegal drugs
Not knowing what's in your glass
WHAT IS RESPONSIBLE
DRINKING?
Planning ahead and setting reasonable limits
Waiting between drinks, sipping
Alternating drinks with non-alcoholic drinks
Eating before you drink
Never leaving drinks unattended
Source: University Health Center
ing social bonds, for others it could
also be a balm for deeper emotional
and mental wounds.
Davenport said if students have ex
perienced grief, depression, loss or oth
er turmoil in their lives they may use
alcohol as a means to “feel better” and
medicate themselves.
The daily pressures of going to
school, and at times having to juggle
educational needs with jobs and other
priorities, could also drive some stu
dents to the bottle.
“A lot of students .. .are under a lot
of financial stress,” Davenport said.
However, some
say college may
actually not be the
doorway to ram
pant drinking.
Student Judi
cial Affairs Direc
tor Chris Loschia
vo said it’s a
misperception
that students
learn to drink in
college — some
start much earlier.
“Students are
coming to college
already with the
experience, and
those that have
been drinking
(sincej high school now in some ways
have to be less careful because their
parents aren’t around,” Loschiavo
said. When high school students were
asked to stand at an IntroDUCKtion
session a few years ago if they had ever
spent a night helping out a drunk
friend, many stood, he said.
Many students do drink
responsibly or not at all
Although alcohol abuse can be a
problem for some students, many say
they exercise caution.
“I’m not a big partier,” said Beebe.
“It’s not like I’m doing it to get incredi
bly drunk.”
Beebe said there is a limit to drink
ing which some people may exceed.
Senior Kari Gorman said she drinks
“very rarely.”
“I’m really busy,” she said. “I don’t
feel the need for it.”
Some students don’t drink at all.
“I don’t like being drunk and most
of my friends don’t drink,” Senior Asa
Tellschow said. “I like to be in control
of myself.”
Tellschow said he has seen responsi
ble drinking as well as irresponsible
drinking. He believes there may be rea
sons other than freedom that make al
cohol a problem for some students.
“I’ve been on my own and that was
n’t reason enough to get me drinking,”
Tellschow said.
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