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By Michelle Locke
August 9, 2005
Freshman starting at the University of California, Berkeley this fall will have a new course to master - alcohol awareness.
The university began the mandatory online course as part of a campus-wide effort to curb alcohol consumption after several high-profile incidents last spring highlighted problem drinking among students, UC Berkeley spokeswoman Marie Felde said Monday.
Earlier this year, UC Berkeley officials banned alcohol at events hosted by fraternities and sororities following alcohol-related incidents, including a fraternity-sponsored ferryboat party that ended abruptly after fights broke out and an intoxicated student was found unconscious.
Another fraternity was placed on suspension after a pledge was shot with a pellet gun more than 30 times during a hazing incident.
Neighbors also have raised concerns about off-campus parties not involving fraternities, Felde said.
"Misuse of alcohol is a problem that affects students across the board. It's not just a fraternity problem," she said.
A 2003 survey of UC Berkeley students found that 79 percent reported drinking alcohol in the past semester and 61 percent of those students said they had gotten drunk, campus officials said.
The online program, AlcoholEdu for College, is required for all 6,900 incoming students, including freshmen and other undergraduates new to campus.
Students register for the course online, answer questions on whether or not they drink and, if so, how much, and then fill in personal data. Questions in the course are tailored to fit the student's situation.
While answers are confidential, school officials will get confirmation of how far a student progressed in the course, which takes about three hours in all, and whether he or she passed the test.
UC Berkeley is the latest in a number of schools to turn to online alcohol education programs.
Other schools requiring students to take the AlcoholEdu program include California State University, Chico, the University of Connecticut and the University of Southern California, said Erika Tower, a spokeswoman for Outside The Classroom, Inc., the Newton, Mass.-based company that created AlcoholEdu about five years ago.
The program is used by more than 450 colleges and Greek organizations and is required by more than 100, Tower said.
CSU Chico spokesman Joe Wills said a version of the class has been used there over the past three years and "we've noticed that the students had some increased awareness and some different perceptions of alcohol abuse after they'd taken the class."
The course will be required for all incoming Chico State freshmen this fall, Wills said.
At Berkeley, about a third of the incoming class had already logged into the AlcoholEdu program by late July, campus officials said.
"By having the entire incoming class take this course, they'll have a common language and understanding to be able to talk about alcohol and make decisions for themselves and as a group," Stacy Holguin, manager of judicial affairs and compliance in UC Berkeley's Office of Student Development, said in a news release.
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