A wet campus

By Alicia Anderson

Daily Trojan, a newspaper of University of Southern California. Issue: 4/27/05


Student alcohol violations are more than 50 percent higher this academic year than last, according to Department of Public Safety reports.

For the 2004-2005 academic year, there are 77 alcohol violations at press time, compared to 49 for the 2003-2004 academic year. In all the violations, students were cited to student conduct or were criminally charged for an alcohol-related offense.

"Alcohol is the most abused substance on this campus and on every campus in the country," said Bradford King, director of the student counseling service.

King said that in the 2003-2004 academic year, 272 students visited the counseling center for substance abuse-related problems. Out of those, 167 were specifically for alcohol-related problems.

"Alcohol abuse is a major problem in college campuses," said Steve Sussman, professor of preventative medicine and psychology at the Institute for Prevention Research.

Sussman said that alcohol has been intertwined with campus and university life for such a long time that many young people feel it is a rite of passage for them to drink - even if they are underage.

"The most common drinking is binge," King said.

One or two drinks can be healthy, but the tendency is for people to overdo it in college situations and drink much more than the norm, Sussman said.

"Our society is such that it seems to promote getting drunk," he said.

Another development is that students have started to not be as secretive in drinking, said a DPS officer who requested to remain anonymous.

"Carelessness has increased, and the boldness of the people involved has also increased," the officer said.

The officer, who has worked for DPS for four years, said that students have started freely carrying alcohol on campus. He also said alcohol plays a major role in many of the fights and DPS incidents on campus.

Girls play catch up

Another new trend Sussman and King said they have seen is an increase in drinking among women.

"The girls are just as bad as the guys," agreed the DPS officer.

The officer also said DPS calls relating to unconscious girls has increased, probably because of girls trying to keep pace with guys when it comes to drinking.

"If the girls are going drink for drink with the guys, they feel it first," the officer said.

He said there have been countless reports of girls passing out in bathrooms and on floors.

"People do things they wouldn't do if they were more passive drinkers," King said.

It is important for students to realize the problems that are associated with drinking so they can drink more moderately and responsibly, King said.

Sussman said some indications of excessive drinking are personality changes, an increase of legal problems and drinking at heavy levels.

Other warning signs of drinking problems are signs of withdrawal such as mood swings and the shakes, Sussman said.

An important thing to remember with alcohol is that it is a depressant and will eventually worsen mood problems rather than solve them, King said.

"One or two drinks makes you feel better, and six or eight covers the depression," King said on why people keep binge drinking.

In order for young people to change, it is necessary to make them realize that alcohol is harmful and sometimes deadly, King said.

"Students don't want to stop, but maybe they can reduce," he said.

Sussman agreed with King, saying that it is unrealistic to expect students to stop drinking altogether.

He said that since students will not stop, it is important to realize productive ways of curbing destructive alcohol behaviors after college.

Ways to stop

One suggestion from Alcoholics Anonymous is to abstain completely.

The 12-step program provided by AA guides alcohol abusers through steps of recognizing the problem and accepting the changes inherent in a life free of alcohol.

King said that rather than completely eliminating alcohol, in many ways, it is better to just minimize the harm that is inflicted from using the alcohol.

King recommends this "harm-reduction" model over the AA abstinence model when dealing with young people.

"We try and work with students to see what is appropriate for them," King said.

He also said that university counseling services for alcohol-related problems are not forced on students and that he is "not big on mandatory therapy," citing that students would deny their problems and refuse counseling.

The officer said there is a "definite need for more action" by law enforcement and DPS to curb drinking problems around campus.

A majority of fights and robberies on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights also largely have alcohol involved, the DPS officer said.

Facebook it

The extensive abuse of alcohol on campus is easy to see by logging on to the online campus network, Thefacebook.com.

When the word "alcohol" is typed into the group search on Thefacebook, 14 groups are displayed, including Kappa Kappa Alcoholics, Team Alcohol and Nymphomaniacs and Alcoholics.

Another such group on USC's online campus network, Alcohol Solves Everything, describes the group under its group description, "a world where your reputation is defined by the number of shots you can take and your drunkenness is measured by how much you can actually remember."

The group has 21 members.

The creator of another such group, Alcohol Solves Everything, said she originally started the group as a joke with some of her friends.

Jenny Adleman said that the group was "mostly underage" and that she was one of the only legal-age drinkers who was a part of the group.

Adleman, a recent graduate, said she now looks back on the group with good memories.

She said she remembers when the group would hold contests for the best drunken story posted and award the winner with a "cheap bottle of vodka."

Adleman said that although the group might look bad, a lot of the group descriptions were intended to be funny and that some of the compromising pictures of people passed out and intoxicated were staged.