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By Erica Erwin
May 21, 2008
Penn State Behrend freshmen will face a new cocktail of classes come fall: English, math -- and alcohol education.
Pennsylvania State University trustees earlier this month passed a resolution requiring all incoming freshmen system-wide to take AlcoholEdu for College, an interactive, online alcohol education program.
Behrend freshmen will be required to take the first part of the course before arriving on campus in the fall.
"Our students are coming to college with more awareness and experience with alcohol than ever before," said Kelly Shrout, Behrend's associate director of student affairs.
"What we're trying to do is educate students about our policies and expectations for Penn State and hopefully open a dialogue between students and parents (about alcohol and drinking) before they even come on campus."
Students begin the program by taking a survey that measures their attitudes about, and knowledge of, alcohol.
After completing the survey, the program walks students through a variety of topics: how alcohol impacts brain development and learning, factors that affect blood alcohol content, state-by-state laws about alcohol, and more.
The course is personalized to each student based on past drinking patterns, gender, and perceptions about alcohol.
Students can log in and out of the program whenever they want to and finish the course at their convenience.
There is no additional cost to the students for the course.
The approach is to educate students, not preach to them, said Erika Tower, director of marketing and communications for Outside the Classroom, the Needham, Mass.-based company that produces the program.
"It doesn't tell students what to think or what to do," Tower said. The aim, she said, is to "help students make better decisions, and decisions that will keep them safe."
More than 500 colleges nationwide use AlcoholEdu, including at least two other colleges in the region, Mercyhurst College in Erie and Allegheny College in Meadville.
Mercyhurst began mandating the program for all incoming freshmen in 2005 after using it the previous two years as a sanctioning tool for students who broke the college's alcohol policy. Students start the course once arriving on campus.
Results of the 2007 program showed that the percentage of Mercyhurst freshmen who abstain from drinking rose from 63 percent to 67 percent after taking the course.
The percentage of students classified as "heavy drinkers" and "problematic drinkers" decreased from 23 percent to 20 percent and from 7 percent to 5 percent respectively.
And students who chose to drink were smarter about it: 70 percent of students who took the course said they would set personal limits on the number of drinks they consume; 70 percent also said they would alternate alcoholic drinks with nonalcoholic drinks.
The program helps students during that transition from high school to college, a time when they can make "reckless decisions and careless choices," said Laura Zirkle, associate vice president of student life.
"Every school in the country should be doing something like this," Zirkle said.
Allegheny started a voluntary AlcoholEdu program for incoming freshmen two years ago. Since then, about 850 students have taken the course.
Most students who commit alcohol violations have not taken the course, Dean of Students Joe DiChristina said. Students who violate the policy are then required to complete the program.
Gannon University does not use AlcoholEdu but does hold several voluntary alcohol education programs throughout the year, university officials said.
All incoming resident freshmen are required to attend a session that focuses on date rape and the role alcohol can play in date rape.
Edinboro University of Pennsylvania officials could not be reached for comment.
John Curtin, a senior at Northwest Pennsylvania Collegiate Academy, will study mechanical engineering at Behrend in the fall.
He said he isn't looking forward to taking another course on top of his physics and calculus classes, but he understands the importance of alcohol education.
"It's important students know the danger of alcohol and what can happen when students go away unsupervised,"Curtin, 18, said.
"In college, there's a lot more social freedom."
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