Student Voices on Alcohol: March 2008

March 31, 2008
James M. Dean

WARNING: EXPLICIT CONTENT. You've seen the label hundreds of times at music stores everywhere. It's usually stamped onto the album cover of rap artists like 50 Cent, Ludacris, Lil' Wayne, Nelly, and Eminem. The millions of rappers out there trying to “make it big” in the business have finally found a way to attract a legitimate audience. Sadly, it comes in the form of alcohol and drugs.

From my experiences, the majority of a rapper's listeners fit the perfect mold of young, white, middle-class college students who want to feel cool – like they're “from the streets.” I'll even call myself out on this one – I listen to rap all the time. However, I would never take a rapper's words and try to incorporate them into my own life – because I know that over half of what T-Pain and P. Diddy say is BS anyways. I apologize for the harsh language, but it has to be said. Honestly, if we all really lived the life that most rappers say they live in their songs, we'd either be dead from alcohol poisoning or too drugged out to function in society.

If I wanted to make a hit rap song right now, I could. No problem. I'll take a look in my “Rapper's Delight” Dictionary of Lyrics and put together some meaningless phrases that somehow combine “Patrón,” “weed,” “drunk,” and “high” in between a barrage of swearing and female debasement. The musical skill involved in rap songs has become elementary. Give me five minutes to write lyrics, another ten in front of a computer, and some stereotypical “album drop” advertisements on television – I'm rich.

The point of this article – perhaps you could call this one a “vent” – is to set the record straight. Today's younger generations have become increasingly drawn into a chaotic media world of sex, drugs, and violence. I've grown up with Internet access to every type of information in the world, much of which I would never like to see or hear again. With such a loose control over most of the things our kids see and hear each day, I believe one of the few ways left to truly keep them safe is to INFORM them. I started listening to rap around eleven or twelve, and continue to be an avid fan perhaps more out of habit than a legitimate interest in the philosophical complexities of “In Da Club” or “Buy U a Drank.” The lifestyle rappers are pushing today (and trust me on this one) is nowhere near the one they actually live – it is simply the best way to appeal to kids like me and make a profit. In closing, though I may have strayed a little from my initial point, I leave you with my own killer rhymes:

All these rappers keep talkin' 'bout the drinks and the drugs,
'bout the guns and the weed that keep them legitimate thugs,
but kids like me are listenin' without a mind to lyrics,
cuz we know that in the future our kids be waitin' to hear us

We'll teach 'em that the stuff they hear has no meaning behind it,
that the real cool people live a life opposite minded.

Thank you. I will be signing autographs at a later date.

March 25, 2008
Owen O'Brien

A new era has begun within my social circle. With more and more of my male friends turning 21 as the semester progresses, venturing to downtown bars is replacing house parties as the social outlet of choice for my peers. Partying on "Sixth Street," Austin's notorious strip of bars, has become the quickest route to appearing grown-up, sophisticated, and cool in the eyes of many college-age socialites.

If you're below the legal drinking age, have no fear: you too can prove your social-worthiness by getting a fake ID - the minor's ticket into to Sixth Street venues. Many of my underage, female friends have redeemed themselves in this manner, either spending 120 dollars to buy a fake ID or procuring the old driver's license of a sorority sister with a similar hair color. Sadly - although few of my friends will say this out loud - if you are not 21 and you haven't gotten a fake ID, you inevitably are seen as childish, out-of -the-loop… and alone on Friday nights.

I have chosen the pathetically "uncool" route. I do not have a fake ID nor do I plan to get one. I am not willing to spend even a dime - much less 200 dollars - on a fake ID. On top of this, I would rather not run the risk of receiving a felony: this semester, one of my close friends is dealing with an identity theft conviction for getting caught with her fake ID. Besides jail-time and eighty hours of community service, her hopes of going to medical school are shrinking by the day. This punishment is brutal for such an intelligent, essentially harmless girl, but unfortunately, it's the harsh reality of our country's legal system.

Even aside from these financial and legal drawbacks, gaining access to 21 and up bars is, to me, not worth any effort or risk at all: I have no desire to spend my nights downtown. The glamorously colored conception I used to have of Sixth Street was long ago sullied by the stories I've heard and the experiences I've had there. The naïve perception of downtown bars I had in high school has been shattered by the drunken, not-so-glamorous reality of Sixth Street.

Rather than serving as a backdrop for intellectual conversations over dainty glasses of wine, Sixth Street is the setting for blackouts and pass-outs, public vomiting and urination, screaming matches and physical fights, the ends of long relationships and the beginnings of short ones. More than one of my friends has literally had to be carried off of Sixth Street. More than one of my friends has burst into tears on Sixth Street. More than one of my friends has been arrested on Sixth Street. More than one of my friends has been the victim of drunken violence on Sixth Street and has ended up in the hospital. Indeed, it is the picture of sophistication and maturity. Going downtown is what the adults do.

With the shift from house parties to downtown bars, the gap between my binge-drinking friends and the sober me is widening even more. At first, it was just a difference in choice of beverages on the weekends: They chose vodka, I chose water. Now, it has become a difference in worlds: They choose Sixth Street, and I choose anything else. Slowly but surely, I am being left behind.

Of course, I saw this coming all along. Sadly, I knew the friends that promised me that they "wouldn't go downtown that much and leave me by myself" inevitably would. So, after three semesters of attending random UT events, joining countless clubs, and trying to "put myself out there" as much as possible, I have finally found people who don't center their social lives around alcohol. I met the majority of them in the UT study abroad cooperative. As a brand new club - and as brand new friends - we have been planning canoeing trips, camping adventures, salsa lessons, socials at exotic restaurants, and outings to concerts. Although these friendships are very new, they afford me with a lot of hope. The people I've met want to do everything that I've been trying to get my vodka-loving friends to do with me for a long time.

It's sad that it took me so long to find people like this: an alternative social world should be easier to find on college campuses. Or maybe I'm deceiving myself. Perhaps a sober circle of friends is relatively easy to find for most students. Maybe I was so deeply entrenched in the world of binge-drinking that it took me three semesters just to dig my way out.

It's funny how life works sometimes: Just as I am parting ways with one world, I find myself entering another. My binge-drinking friends can party on Sixth Street as much as they want. They can pretend they're sad I can't come. They can tell me all their wild stories the next morning. They can beg me to get a fake ID multiple times a week, but I won't get one and I won't go downtown. I'll be busy salsa dancing.

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March 17, 2008
Lindsay Cole

In January I had the privilege, through AlcoholEdu, to serve as a voice in a student panel at the NASPA Alcohol Abuse Prevention Conference. A group of dedicated student affairs administrators in higher education, the folks at NASPA really care about the issues threatening the welfare of college students, including if not especially, alcohol use.

So here I was, in a ballroom in a hotel in Florida, being asked my opinions about drinking and Greek Life, how drinking affects students' social and romantic lives, and how to ease students' fears about getting help if they think they, or their friends, have a problem.

The pressure was on, in my mind, to contribute to some great insight that would inspire college administrators to both hold out hope in their students, that we're more than apathetic drunkards, while pointing out that it can be difficult and intimidating to find, let alone approach, mentors and resources.

Then the question came, that when I opened my mouth to answer, I didn't realize I was opening the floodgates to a controversial, long-standing debate. The topic was binge drinking versus social, light drinking. The question was, as far as I can recall, what role should professors and administrators play in students' lives regarding drinking?

This is a multi-layered issue. I know, because my mom is an elementary school teacher, that parents often expect educators to be babysitters and role models, caretakers and disciplinarians, allowing the student to make mistakes but always regulating and monitoring their child as if it were the educator's.

Thinking I had something to contribute, I brought up that my school's alumnae association had recently hosted a senior night celebration on campus. It was a gala event for seniors and staff, with free food and drinks, including alcoholic beverages. Of course, all students were carded and given a bracelet allowing them to drink with a two-drink limit. I expressed my opinion that I found this perfectly acceptable, because the drinking was monitored, food was provided and underage students had no access to the alcohol. In my opinion, seeing a college administrator with a drink in her hand doesn't affect a student's attitude toward drinking, neither making it more attractive or repulsive. It's up to the individual to have agency over the way she views alcohol consumption. Moreover, I said, I think it's fine for students to drink in the same room as their professors and administrators because in my opinion, the existence of alcohol is not the problem. It is the individual's relationship to alcohol that can prove problematic. Furthermore, I argued, alcohol exists despite how hard we try to prevent our youth's exposure to it, so we might as well see it used responsibly by our role models than fear that it's taboo and that drinking alcohol responsibly is intrinsically wrong; that closes the door on creating a platform for students to express their opinions on the matter or seek help for possible problems.

My argument was met with dissension from the most vocal member of the student panel, a 21 year-old student advisor at a university in New York. She felt that it was deplorable and unacceptable for a university to hold on-campus events involving alcohol.

I soon learned that there are two schools of thought on the matter: abstinence versus reduced harm. The abstinence approach, as we all know from sex education, means the social/mental health department at your school condones the absence of alcohol, both on and off campus, as the best way to prevent alcohol abuse or harm resulting from alcohol use. The harm reduction approach asserts that it is less important what or how much you drink, than that you're not hurting anybody. The harm reduction approach works not so much to police students' intake, but to reduce harmful outcomes such as driving under the influence, sexual relations with dangerous partners (or strangers), or sexual victimization. In a perfect world, everyone would drink responsibly or not drink at all, and the consequences of drinking too much would harm the drinker only. Unfortunately, alcohol affects people physiologically, physically and mentally, and bad things result from these changes. I agree with the harm reduction approach because we can't control alcohol consumption, but we can, through education and communication, explore ways to lessen the negative consequences of drinking. Ultimately, I feel that the harm reduction approach is more realistic, not because it's the theory that my school adopted, but because schools can't baby-sit and police their students 24-7. What our schools can do is educate us about the risks of drinking and how to drink as responsibly as possible, so that if we do, we run the risk of hurting our bodies, but not harming or violating anyone else's.

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March 10, 2008
Allison Brummet

Spring is coming. The snow is melting, and the sky is finally clear of dark clouds. With this new season, I am happy. I can finally get out of my room and socialize. It's not that social events don't happen during the coldest season of the year, they do. But the majority of these events, at least where I am, seem to revolve around drinking. I suppose statistics show that the heaviest drinkers live in the coldest climates; I can believe that. So it's no wonder that most people in college drink frequently during winter.

To be quite honest, I hate winter. I can't stand it. We're all trapped inside because of the bitter cold. It lasts for months. People, mostly the uncreative sort, don't know how to have fun without drinking. There was an incident that occurred in my very room about a month ago that will remain in my memory for too long before I can forget it.

It was a usual Friday night. I hung out with some of my friends, watched a movie, and surfed the web. I always lock my door before I go to sleep. Unfortunately, when my roommate returned a couple hours later, she forgot to lock the door. I was woken up a few hours later by a drunk guy standing next to my bed. Yeah, he was completely trashed, and I was scared stiff.

He set his coat down on our heater and proceeded to the bathroom, hitting our wall length mirror along the way. My roommate and I were wide awake at this point. We waited until he came out of the bathroom. He stumbled back over to my bed. We tried to tell him he was in the wrong room. He mumbled something about not getting in trouble and slumped onto my bed. I was out of bed like a gunshot and my roommate and I ran out of the room. I couldn't see more than a foot in front of my face; I had forgotten to grab my glasses. We searched in vain for an RA on our floor. We returned to our room to make sure the drunk wasn't stealing anything or throwing up.

We each grabbed a pair of shoes and ran downstairs to the RA office. Thankfully, a security guard was also there. We quickly told our tale and headed back to the room with the security guard and two RAs in tow. It took them a half hour to sort everything out. Of course, we were lectured by the security guard about locking our door and how we should have called security right away. After everyone was gone, I stripped my bed. I slept on the bare mattress with only a blanket that night. I had trouble falling back asleep.

I can't wait for spring to get here. I don't think I'll even mind the rain. Hopefully it'll wash away this bad memory.

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March 3, 2008
James M. Dean
A Simple Guide for the Administration

It is a given that nearly all of the colleges and universities in our nation have been seeking to reduce dangerous student drinking activities for quite a while now. While some schools remain at the extremes with severe penalties and rules of "zero-tolerance" for first-time "offenders," I see much more potential for success in university-led activities and events that offer alternatives to drinking on the weekend. Though my opinions may not be particularly friendly to smaller schools that lack the necessary funds, there is still no substitute for creativity.

Think outside the box. Look around you and find something unique about your campus, or perhaps the city or town in which your campus is situated. Try something outside - an event that has the potential to remain for years as a tradition on campus, such as an annual snowball fight or dodgeball tournament. If students still show little interest, consider activities that stand apart from the typical - originality is the key. Brainstorm new ideas, from sledding in the middle of campus to dance contests at the student union. The community in which your campus lies can also be a hidden gem, and used as a sort of "social blender" to bring the students closer to the residents. With that said, keep the student body up-to-date on events off-campus, such as concerts or lectures or movies - these are all ways to give them a taste of life away from the typical weekend of college drinking.

As with any happening on (or off) campus, you must ADVERTISE as much as possible. I can safely assume that most students do not spend their time actively searching for events in and around campus between study breaks and sleep. How do I stay (relatively) well informed? Flyers seem to be the most effective, but quantity definitely determines effectiveness. The more I see of a certain flyer, the more likely I am to think of it as important and to step in for a closer look. I can understand the difficulty of attracting students with weekly flyers entitled, "Come to the Student Lounge for Monopoly on Friday!" Make the flyers funny, exciting, and attractive by including phrases from the newest hit movie or pictures of celebrities. If all else fails, virtual flyers on Facebook are perhaps the best way to reach the student body, but the fees will become an issue with a tight budget.

This final suggestion, though quite demanding in its expectations, will pertain primarily to larger schools with more financial freedom. As a college student, not much is more attractive than free food and a chance to win money. The two combined make me weak in the knees, and I would gladly push aside a night of partying for an event that blends dollars and dining. I am not aware of the legalities behind such activities, but poker nights (yes, with real money buy-ins) or even bingo nights (remember, students crave uniqueness) with cash prizes and free food would surely catch my attention - that is, only if the flyers could first.

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