Moderate
drinking promoted in college
By
Sean Emery
On-line Forty-Niner
As
part of an effort to help fight alcohol
abuse among students, college campuses are
increasingly turning toward new methods
of educating the college community. The
question is: Are these programs reflecting
a more realistic view of college drinking
habits, or are they condoning and encouraging
dangerous activities?
On
Tuesday, March 2, Cal State Long Beach students
received what many probably viewed as a
fairly routine e-mail from the school, informing
them about the upcoming spring break. What
many probably didn't realize is that the
e-mail, specifically the warnings it contained
about the dangers of binge drinking, was
part of an ongoing effort by the university,
as well as the rest of the CSU system, to
combat what CSU officials see as a serious
problem among college students -- alcohol
and drug abuse.
The
e-mail, which was sent out by Mike Hostetler,
associate vice president of Student Services,
is an example of the newest method being
used by the university to combat alcohol
and drug abuse. It's known as social norming
theory, and according to some reports is
being used by more than half of the nation's
four-year colleges. According to Hostetler,
the purpose of the new campaign is to tell
students the reality of college drinking
habits.
"The
[perceived] amount of drug and alcohol use
by students is exaggerated. Many students
are under the assumption that their peers
are using alcohol and drugs to a much greater
extent then they actually are," Hostetler
said. "We have done research to find
what the patterns of usage are, and then
we are letting people know the facts. We
are letting them know that the vast majority
of students aren't abusing alcohol and drugs."
An
ongoing effort to address alcohol and drug
abuse
The
campaign is being run by the campus' Alcohol,
Tobacco, and Other Drugs committee. The
committee, which is headed by the vice president
of Student Services, Doug Robinson, was
created in 2001. It was based on recommendations
by the chancellor of the CSU system in the
wake of several serious incidents of alcohol
abuse at San Diego and Chico state.
According
to Hostetler, the committee has focused
its efforts on a variety of areas.
"We
have educational efforts, we have public
relations efforts and we have counseling
efforts. We also have, unfortunately, judicial
efforts if a student breaks the university
rules," Hostetler said. "We are
trying to approach the problem on all fronts."
So
far the committee has zeroed in on two specific
sections of the student population -- the
Greek system and the residence halls. Efforts
to help combat alcohol and drug abuse in
the Greek system have meant that the committee
has stepped up efforts to work with student
leaders throughout the various fraternities
and sororities.
"Unfortunately,
around the country, and in California, there
have been excesses that revolve around the
Greek [system]," Hostetler said. "We
have been working with them diligently for
the last two or three years to fight these
problems."
For
the residence halls, the efforts of the
committee have been put toward promoting
and running what they refer to as the "1,2,3
program." In this program, the first
violation of the universities alcohol code
results in the student having to attend
a drug and alcohol awareness class. The
second violation results in the student
being referred to a counseling session.
The third violation can result in the student
being forced to leave the halls.
Is
social norming effective?
Despite
these efforts, campaigns to fight alcohol
and drug abuse, specifically ones that use
the social norming theory, are not without
their critics. Unlike traditional campaigns
to prevent alcohol abuse, which relied on
the "just say no" method of telling
students not to drink at all, the new strategy
instead focuses on reducing heavy drinking.
Some critics view this as condoning alcohol
use, even if it is only in moderation.
This
view was reflected in a study released by
the Harvard School of Public Health last
summer, which was subsequently published
in the July issue of the Journal of Studies
on Alcohol. According to this study, students
who had been exposed to the social norming
campaign showed little to no decrease in
alcohol use. The study also found that social
norming had little to no impact on what
it referred to as heavy episodic drinking
-- more than five consecutive drinks for
men or four consecutive drinks for women.
Officials
from the CSULB committee are quick to defend
their program from these charges. They argue
that the purpose of the program is to face
the reality of the situation, and that reality
is that students are going to drink alcohol.
To them, the program serves to emphasize
that they should do so safely, and in moderation.
"I
don't think [social norming] is condoning
anything, I think it's being realistic,"
Hostetler said. "We aren't so naïve
that we are going to bother to preach that
students should just say no. We realize
that college students are going to drink,
legally or illegally, and they are going
to use drugs. Our research shows that [many]
have already done that by the time they
get here."
Other
officials from the committee agreed with
this view, emphasizing what they see as
the need for the college to treat the students
as adults.
"The
purpose of the university is to give students
all the information they need in order to
make a choice [about alcohol use],"
said Alan Nishio, an associate vice president
of the college, and a member of the committee.
"We need to present them with both
sides of the issue."
The
results so far
Since
the program is fairly new, official figures
regarding its effectiveness aren't yet available.
Still, university officials are pleased
with what they view as the success of the
campaign so far. According to Nishio, the
incidents of alcohol abuse on the CSULB
campus are rare.
"It's
always hard to tell, but incidents of alcohol
related behavior on our campus is fairly
low," Nishio said.
Hostetler
said he believes that the program has also
had an especially positive effect on the
sections of the campus community it has
specifically targeted.
"The number of judicial cases involving
the Greek [system] has gone down dramatically,"
Hostetler said. "The number of students
that we need to send through the 1,2,3 program
has also gone down since we started the
program."
Hostetler
also stressed that the social norming theory
is not the only part of the campus' fight
against alcohol and drug abuse.
"Some
universities have bought the social norming
theory hook, line and sinker," Hostetler
said. "We are trying to spread our
efforts so that some can be termed social
norming [while] others can be termed marketing
and education."
Plans
for the future
In
the near future, the committee plans to
begin to work with the athletic department,
in order to give them the same attention
as the Greek system and the residence halls.
They also plan to work alcohol and drug
awareness into the University 100 classes,
and into the SOAR orientations. The eventual
goal of the committee is to expand these
efforts to cover the entire student body.
"The
main goal is to ensure that students understand
the consequences of alcohol consumption,
and that they are aware that there are other
options," Nishio said.
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