COLLEGE SHORTS

Author: Katie Flagg

Binge drinking rates vary state to state

A report released this month by the Center for Disease Control (CDC) contends that the amount students drink may be related to where they go to school. The report analyzed data from two national surveys and found that location by state is a predictor of binge drinking among both college students and the general population.

Binge drinking refers to having five or more alcoholic drinks on a single occasion and accounts for almost half of the 75,000 alcohol-related deaths in the United States every year.

College binge drinking rates are lowest, according to the study, in those states with the lowest general population binge drinking rates. According to co-author of the study Dr. Timothy Naimi, this correlation suggests that, while "college binge drinking gets a lot of attention ... it's intertwined with and reflects binge drinking in society at large."

States with the highest college binge drinking rates were Maryland, Wisconsin, Vermont, Iowa, Delaware and South Carolina. The lowest college binge drinking rates were found in Utah, Oregon, New Hampshire, Tennessee and North Carolina.

The report did note, however, that binge drinking is not a problem solely on college campuses. "Seventy-five percent of binge drinking episodes occur beyond college aid," said Naimi. "College binge drinking is only part of the problem."

- U-Wire



Thefacebook faces lawsuits, competition

The most popular online college directory is facing lawsuits and competition only one year after its launch. Thefacebook.com - a networking directory with over 1.8 million members - is under fire from ConnectU.com, a similar director. ConnectU founders claim that thefacebook-creator Mark Zuckerman worked under them during their time at Harvard University during the preliminary stages of development for their Web site.

The lawsuit was filed after the facebook launch last year displayed close similiarities between the two Web sites. Chris Hughes, spokesperson for thefacebook, claims that ConnectU's allegations are unfounded - Zuckerman's relationship with ConnectU, says Hughes, was informal. Hughes estimates, however, that the lawsuit will cost thefacebook over $200,000 in legal fees, but explained that the thefacebook is countersuing for "abusing the legal system" in order to regain funds lost during legal proceedings.

The lawsuit has done little to dissuade competitors from cropping up across the Internet, though. Sites like myspace.com, etriculate.com, campusnetwork.com and studentcenter.org have sprung up in past months to woo students intrigued by thefacebook.

Thefacebook, though, has cornered the market - for the present - on college networking. And so competitors are looking for new ways to make their mark in a niche dominated by thefacebook. Etriculate.com founder David Clark released his Web site this past Valentine's Day, and in an effort to gain members, he made his site available to high school students.

"How do we get people to stop using thefacebook?" Clark asked. "We just get to them before they start. We're finding the best reception now with high school kids. It's a popularity contest."

- U-Wire