Alcohol study prompts forum

The College Alcohol Study found that 98.5 percent of participating students reported at least one negative experience due to someone else’s drinking.

The survey was conducted through the Office of the Dean of the College in November 2010, and it asked about the views and experiences of 766 students, roughly a third of the student body, on everything from how much and where students drink to what students think about the College’s alcohol policies.

“I think the data are concerning,” said Dean of the College and Chief Diversity Officer Shirley Collado. “Similar to other campuses, [alcohol use] is a challenge that I think has an impact not only on issues related to what it means to be living in a respectful and open community, but also the health and wellness of our students.”

Four hundred students in each class were invited to participate in the survey; 47 percent of those invited chose to participate, a response rate Collado appreciates.

“We were very pleased that over 700 students completed the survey, that this was something students wanted to share their input about,” said Collado. “I take that as a good sign. Rather than having the data sit, we wanted to share it.”

To present an extensive summary of the data and hear student feedback, President of the College Ronald D. Liebowitz and Collado will host an open forum on issues related to alcohol use at the College at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, May 3 in the McCullough Social Space. Executive Director of Health and Counseling Services Gus Jordan, Assistant Professor of Psychology Matt Kimble and Associate Professor of Psychology Carlos Velez have analyzed the survey data and put together a slideshow, which Jordan will present at the forum. Student life staff and members of Public Safety will also participate, and Assistant Director of Custodial Services Linda Ross will present the most updated dorm damage data.

“I can’t think of a better way to look at all of the data than to start early-on with student input,” said Collado. “The President and I are not going into this meeting with some kind of agenda or solution in mind. We’re both pretty concerned about the fact that no one institution has figured out the solution to alcohol use and abuse on college campuses … this is for me personally a call to action because I don’t think the administration can solve this problem alone. This cannot be a top-down approach.”

Liebowitz expressed similar thoughts.

“It’s good to have these conversations — we should probably have them more often,” he said. “But the ultimate aim is to hear from students how we can approach what is obviously a challenging issue — the use of alcohol and the disruptive behavior resulting from it. We want to really look to the students for potential solutions … I’m hoping students are going to be a lot smarter than we are about this.”

Some students have already been charged with the task of considering alcohol use at the College. Resident Advisers (RAs) and First-Year Counselors (FYCs) receive training around issues of illegal and excessive alcohol use and play an active role in ensuring the safety of their peers. Some commons held a Residential Life staff meeting for their RAs and FYCs to preview the survey results and give the administration preliminary feedback.

“We talked about how we have a weird role because we’re supposed to be there for the kids and have this good open relationship with then, and once you ask an FYC to start sniffing around and catch them drinking it messes up the other half of our job,” said Matt Yaggy ’12, an FYC for Atwater Commons who previewed the survey results. “It’s a really difficult thing to negotiate. The problem is students aren’t supposed to drink, but we know they do, and we want to educate them, but we have to police them.”

Yaggy felt the survey summary cast Residential Life staff members in a negative light by reporting their efforts to curb underage drinking and unsafe drinking as “ineffective.”

“I agree for the most part FYCs are not effective, but that’s not something that is our fault,” said Yaggy.  “To do it more effectively would ask us to cross a boundary we shouldn’t cross, or wouldn’t create the sort of atmosphere an FYC needs to have with their first-years. There’s no way to stop [first-years] from drinking, especially in an environment where there are people who can drink and buy them alcohol. There’s no easy solution.”

Liebowitz stressed the importance of the forum in the face of such a complex issue as underage drinking.

“[Underage drinking] is going to happen; it’s happening now,” said Liebowitz. “The question is how to make it safer and more responsible and abide by the law. I’m all for education, but I’d love to hear from students what type of education might we consider.”

Matt Hedgpeth ’12, the RA and president of Omega Alpha (Tavern), plays a frequent witness to the drinking scene on campus as the leader of a social house, and he believes most of the biggest issues involving alcohol come down to stress.

“I think a lot of people feel like they need to drink either to meet new people, to go to party environments, to go out and put themselves out there after constantly living under the pressure of deadlines and handing in quality work — just living up to your own standards and living up to the school’s standards,” said Hedgpeth. “Not that the bad things that can result from that alcohol use [in response to the pressure] are excusable, but at the same time I don’t really know what other solutions there are … The amount of work we have isn’t really conducive to the kind of unstructured social time people are looking for here.”

Liebowitz said he was “sympathetic” to the notion of stress-related drinking habits, and he called the issue a “fair question.”

“It’s easy to dismiss academic pressure as a component of this issue, but over the last five years I’ve come to believe that that’s a contributor to some of this issue,” said Liebowitz.” “I don’t know how to address that … maybe students will.”

Hedgpeth worries perceptions that the administration is “unwilling to take the steps to actually change things” will discourage students from coming to the open forum, or that students will not speak honestly at the forum because they think their drinking habits are “shameful.” In general, however, he agrees with Collado and Liebowitz that an attempt at open discussion is necessary.

“I think it’s easier for some people to not worry about the consequences of their actions as much, and not worry about what they do and how that has an effect on other people and their academic or social experience, but that’s just because this isn’t really talked about,” said Hedgpeth. “I guess we should talk about it.”

Brittany Gendron ’12, an FYC in Ross Commons for the second year in a row, feels the forum is a great step to opening a dialogue about alcohol, especially as a way of shifting perceptions of alcohol use on campus. Gendron describes herself as a “non-drinker,” an identity she describes as frequently “difficult” or “uncomfortable” as a social student whose friends are of age, and herself is merely months away from being to drink. After seeing the preview presentation of the alcohol survey results, Gendron learned that almost a quarter of the respondents said they did not drink, or drank infrequently, but drinking culture is “much more noticeable.”

“Sustaining a culture of perceived leniency through the policy focusing on health and safety makes people think that drinking is something everyone does,” said Gendron. “I think it’s a delicate line to toe. We want to be focused on the health and safety and leave people to have their privacy of course, but in this perceived culture of leniency it makes it seem like it is expected that college students will drink, and many don’t, and it should not be expected that they will.”

Gendron hopes that open conversation will help foster greater understanding between seemingly separate factions of the student body.

“I think people don’t need to feel alienated on either side, drinking or non-drinking,” said Gendron. “I think people just need to be understanding about everyone’s preferences, and I think for the most part people are — but not always when they’re drunk, which I think is the problem.”

Liebowitz emphasized the large numbers of factors at play in formulating the College’s alcohol policy, including working within the law, being in a rural area with few off-campus opportunities to drink socially and dealing with the reasons he feels students might choose to drink: stress, pursuing social life, simply being 18 to 22 and being alone for the first time.

“All of these things could be dealt with in ways that are more effective than we do now, perhaps,” said Liebowitz. “We’re always learning.”

His main hope for the forum next week is that students will show up, and that those who do will represent a broad range of opinions.

“I hope we get a mix [of perspectives on drinking],” said Liebowitz. “I hope people are willing to be civil to one another and to exchange ideas and share real issues that come up surrounding alcohol.”