A Toast to Dear Old Penn

In the aftermath of several recent alcohol-related assaults and hospitalizations, are students drinking too much? and Ian Rosenblum It seems alcohol is on everyone's mind these days. Consumption on college campuses has received national attention this fall, after the drinking-related deaths of students at Louisiana State University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. It has been a hot topic at Penn as well, with several recent alcohol-related assaults and the hospitalization of at least three freshmen this semester for alcohol poisoning. And according to an independent poll by The Daily Pennsylvanian, there is reason for concern about student's alcohol use. The survey -- conducted October 19-20 --Epolled 116 randomly selected students about their experiences with alcohol. It has a margin of error of plus/minus 9 points. Sixty-six percent of University students -- 51 percent of women and 80 percent of men -- say they have had at least one binge drinking episode this semester, with 31 percent of students binging five or more times since the beginning of September. Recent studies have defined binge drinking for women as four drinks in a single sitting, or five drinks for men in the same time period. The survey results are slightly higher than national averages. In a recent Harvard School of Education poll of 17,592 college students across the country, 50 percent of men and 39 percent of women said they have had a binge drinking episode. Similarly, Time magazine reported in October that 44 percent of all college students are believed to be binge drinkers. The DP survey also found that at least 59 percent of Penn students have been drunk at least once this semester. Many of these students said they were drunk on multiple occasions, with polled students reporting a total of 416 incidences of drunkenness. Only two students classified themselves as drinking "very often," with 86 percent responding that they drink "sometimes" of "often" and 12 percent saying they never drink. But even those who reported binge drinking several times a week were unwilling to admit to "heavy drinking." Students who said they drank "sometimes" or "often" reported anywhere from one to 40 binge drinking episodes and from one to 30 incidents of drunkenness this semester. The two students who admitted to drinking "very often" reported 21 and 25 incidents, respectively, of binge drinking. Last week, administrators said campus alcohol consumption will not decrease until students express disapproval of alcohol abuse among their friends. In what may be a first step towards vocalizing such feelings, 26 percent of polled students said they had at least one friend at Penn who has a problem with alcohol abuse. But that does not mean students are helping each other when it comes to over-drinking. "Most students are reluctant to say something to even their closest friends when they think their friends are in trouble," Drug and Alcohol Resource Team advisor and health educator Kate Ward-Gaus noted. And while students say they recognize alcohol's dangers, only 22 percent said they attended University-sponsored alcohol safety sessions in their freshman year. The University sponsors numerous alcohol-related sessions for freshmen during first semester and for Greek pledges during second semester. Ward-Gaus said the DP data on how many students attend alcohol-awareness programs "definitely jogs with what we're seeing in resident advisors getting their students to workshops." But she added that making such seminars mandatory may produce adverse results, since student reaction to the discussion often depends on whether the student wants to be there in the first place. An alternative may be building alcohol education into the curriculum and making it a required, for-credit course, Ward-Gaus said. While few students attended University-sponsored alcohol awareness events, nearly half of students said the University was doing a good job educating students about the dangers of alcohol. So why do some Penn students continue to drink heavily, even though they said they are aware of the dangers of alcohol? The majority of students said alcohol had little or no importance to their social lives, with only thirty-three percent saying that alcohol had "some" importance in their social life and 2 percent noting it was very important. Thirty-seven percent of the students, by contrast, said alcohol was not important to their social lives, with 28 percent saying it had "a little" significance. Ward-Gaus said some results from the DP survey were "real similar" to data obtained from a DART survey last spring. In that survey, 68 percent of students said the University's social life is "dependent on drugs and alcohol," and 24 percent said "you need to be drunk or high to have a good time at Penn." She noted that one recent study examined the idea that "most college students think drinking is more excessive than it is and people drink more as a result." "That means that we have to find different and better ways to communicate to students about this issue," Assistant Vice Provost for University Life Barbara Cassel said. "With the work that DART does and the Office of Alcohol Education, we would like to see that number increase significantly." Cassel stressed the "need to do something different and dramatic," adding that University President Judith Rodin introduced the possibility of holding a teach-in across the University so that students everywhere would be discussing alcohol use. Cassel added that she plans to meet with faculty-in-residence to discuss the issue. But some students said University City's paucity of late night non-drinking options is the problem, not a lack of education. "I mean at 11 p.m. on a Saturday night, there's not really anything open except bars and parties -- unless you want to hang out in Wawa for a few hours," one male student noted. Daily Pennsylvanian staff writer Maureen Tkacik contributed to this article. Staff writers Margie Fishman, Mark Glassman, Tammy Reiss, Randi Rothberg and Diem Tran helped conduct the survey.

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