8C - The Michigan Daily - New Student Edition - Fall 2005
UNIVERSITY
Student
binge
drinking
increases
By Jacqueline E. Howard
MARCH 29, 2005
Daily StaffWriter
Campus surveys show that while the number of
students who choose to drink may fluctuate, binge
drinking among those who do consume alcohol is
increasing.
"The intensity of the drinking habits of those who
do drink is increasing," said Patrice Flax, coordinator
of the University's Alcohol and Other Drug Preven-
tion Program
On a national level, research shows a similar
trend. Karen Murray, a consultant for Bacchus and
Gamma Peer Education Network, studies alcohol use
among young adults at colleges and universities in
Ohio, Michigan, Kentucky and Indiana. Her research
shows that, although the rate of college students who
drink has remained steady for years, binge drinking
is increasingly becoming a problem.
"Since 1997, the number of students who drink
alcohol has not drastically changed. What is different
is the high-risk behaviors," she said.
The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alco-
holism gathered research that shows excessive alcohol
use by college-aged individuals is a significant source
of harm. NIAA research indicates that 1,400 college
students die each year as a result of unintentional inju-
ries related to alcohol.
"Alcohol misuse is the number one public health
problem for institutions of higher education across the
U.S.," Murray said.
The results from the most recently released cam-
pus-wide Student Life Survey, conducted in March
2003, show that the rate of binge drinking among
undergraduate students who choose to drink was 50
percent, an increase from 42 percent in 1999.
In addition, there are several high-risk sub-groups
- groups of students with the highest percentage of
alcohol abuse. For instance, according to the survey,
76 percent of students living in fraternities and sorori-
'U' forum offers
students tips on MIPs,
PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY ASHLEY HARPER/Daily
Drinking games which have become more prevalent at universites are a major factor in the rise In binge drnnking.
ties report engaging in binge drinking, compared
with 58 percent of students living in apartments, 38
percent of students living in residence halls and 34
percent of students living outside of Ann Arbor.
Flax said alcohol-related deaths on college cam-
puses result primarily from binge drinking, which
University researchers define as having five or more
drinks for men and four or more drinks for women in
one episode.
Many incoming students quickly fall into the habit
of binge drinking, as they participate in drinking
games and take shots with students who have been
involved in this risky behavior for years, Murray said.
She said binge drinking is especially dangerous for
freshmen because their bodies are unaccustomed to
such a heavy intake of alcohol.
"Students don't understand that alcohol is a drug,"
Flax said. "Intoxication makes people extremely vul-
nerable."
Many students agree that alcohol abuse is an issue
that needs to be addressed at the University.
"Binge drinking and drinking in general is a prob-
lem on campus, as I'm sure you're aware," LSA soph-
omore Lisa Glass said.
Marsha Benz, Alcohol and Other Drug Educator at
the University Health Service, helped launch a social
norms campaign in the fall of 2004 to combat the
binge-drinking problem at the University. Their find-
ings from a survey of randomly selected University
students, conducted in winter 2003, showed that 61
percent of students have 0-4 drinks when they party.
The social norm campaigns are a new strategy
introduced by the Educational Development Center.
Their researchers have argued that many students
overestimate how much their peers drink.
The campaigns are organized in hopes of reduc-
ing alcohol consumption by showing the popularity
of binge drinking as a misconception.
"Students tend to find no fault in binge drinking
because they accept this behavior as normal or even
expected in a particular social context," Murray said.
The Social Norms Marketing Research Project is
a national research study to evaluate the effectiveness
of social norms marketing to reduce high-risk drink-
ing among college students.
This project is located within the Health and
Human Development division of EDC. The Uni-
versity and 31 other institutions of higher education
are involved in this experiment, and the findings will
advance alcohol prevention programming.
By Kelly McDermott
OCTOBER 14, 2004
Daily Staff Writer,
Students had the chance to ask a Univer-
sity lawyer how to avoid minors in posses-
sion of alcohol violations at a discussion in.
the style of a town hall meeting. This meet-
ing is the first in a series called "Know Your
Rights" that the Michigan Student Assem-
bly is hosting in an effort to inform students
of their rights when facing alcohol infrac-
tions.
Jesse Levine, student general counsel,
said, "there is a huge problem of too many
students receiving alcohol violations early in
the year. ... We want students to be aware
of their rights and act responsibly without
receiving citations."
About 20 students gathered in the assem-
bly's chambers in the Michigan Union to
ask Doug Lewis, director of Student Legal
Services, questions on how to avoid receiv-
ing a MIP and other citations for breaking
alcohol laws.
Lewis began the discussion by confront-
ing mistaken beliefs among students regard-
ing alcohol laws, including the common
assumption that a student cannot receive an
MIP if he or she is seen drinking on private
property.
"The police don't care where you're stand-
ing," Lewis said. If a student under 21 is seen
consuming or possessing alcohol, he or she
can still receive an MIP, regardless of where
the student stands, Lewis said.
But Lewis said the private property belief
does apply to the law against opening an
intoxicant in public. If a student who is of
the legal drinking age opens an alcoholic
beverage on the sidewalk in front of his or
her house, that student can be ticketed, but
the student cannot be fined if he or she steps
onto their own private property.
Lewis also refuted what he called a
common assumption that when an offi-
cer addresses a student, he or she must
respond.
"Any cop can walk up to you and say
'How's it going,' but an officer can't force
you to say anything," Lewis said. Through-
out the discussion, Lewis continually advised
students to keep silent when confronted by
the police.
While Lewis said the only guaranteed
way to avoid an MIP is not to drink under-
age, but he also recommended his top three
methods to minimize a student's chance of
receiving an MIP.
"First, if you must drink, stay at home,"
Lewis said. "Leave cans, cups and bottles at
the place you're leaving."
Lewis also told students they should avoid
going back to the same bars with fake iden-
tification. "If you are in possession of a fake
ID or another's real ID, it's a ... misdemean-
or," Lewis said.
Students also raised questions about noise
violations. Noise violations frequently result
in MIPs, Lewis said. Some parties keep kegs
at the front door, which becomes an easy
target for officers investigating a noise com-
plaint, he said.
If an officer comes to a student's house or
apartment because of a noise complaint, a
sober resident should answer the door, have
his or her ID with him, and always pull the
door shut behind him. If the officer tries to
enter the residence, a student should specifi-
cally say, "You do not have permission to
enter my residence," and make sure another
person is present to witness the statement,
Lewis said.
Officers may enter a student's home, how-
ever, if they clearly witness a violation such
as a minor drinking alcohol, or if given con-
sent to enter by an occupant of the home.
Lewis also said students living in Uni-
versity residence halls have fewer rights
when it comes to letting an officer in their
rooms. When students living in residence
halls sign their resident contracts, they
also agree to let an officer into their dorm
room at anytime.
"There is an urgent need for students
to be informed," Levine said. "We want
to prevent students from getting arrested,
more or less."
0
0
0
Greeks take tough
stand on hazing
Greeks make new
changes to their
party policies
By Melissa Benton
OCTOBER 21,2004
Daily Staff Writer
Officials in the Greek commu-
nity have pledged to crack down on
hazing, after University administra-
tors announced hazing allegations
against at least seven chapters.
"We're going to be a lot harsher
about hazing this year. I was irritat-
ed at a few of (the houses) about how
blatant they were," said LSA sopho-
more Bryce Bach, who is head of the
Greek community's Hazing Task-
force. Bach said all of the allegations
are being investigated, but the more
serious ones have been taken over by
the Ann Arbor Police Department
because of the new anti-hazing state
law passed in August 2004.
Offenders of the law can face
misdemeanor charges when hazing
causes physical injury, or felony
charges if hazing leads to serious
bodily impairment or death.
"We have been informed of a num-
ber of incidents on campus involv-
ing fraternities and sororities," said
Lt. Chris Heatley, the coordinating
detective investigating the allega-
tions at AAPD.
Heatley was unable to comment on
the specific fraternities and sorori-
ties involved, but said AAPD does
not have evidence of any criminal
activity at this point.
"We're trying to determine if
anything happened and the impor-
tant thing that gets stressed out of
this exercise is that AAPD is work-
ing with the Department of Public
Safety. ... We're taking it very seri-
ously," Heatley said.
DPS spokeswoman Diane Brown
confirmed that the University
police force is working with AAPD
"to find out what the scope of the
issue is."
DPS discovered the hazing alle-
gations while arresting students on
campus for illegal activity. "DPS
started to realize that perhaps their
state of drunkenness was related to
pledging activity," Brown said.
Some of the allegations include
students being forced to consume
large amounts of alcohol, paddling
and clothes being ripped off sorority
pledges.
There is a difference between
someone who vandalizes property
because they're drunk and someone
who vandalizes property because
someone else told them they had to,
Brown added.
By Kyle Herrala
and Justin Miller
DECEMBER 9,2004
Daily StaffWriters
EUGENE ROBERTSON/Daily
The Interfratemity Council President Casey Bourke holds up Senate Bill 783. To his
right Is VP Internal Affairs Jon Anderson, and VP Recruitment Kevin Mulvaney at a
meeting at the Union on October 20.
I
Although it is still early in the
investigation, Brown said some-
where between five and 10 incidents
may have been reported. "We will
keep trying to explore whether or
not there was any criminal activity,"
Brown said.
Bach said the Hazing Taskforce
is also taking the allegations seri-
ously.
The taskforce, which meets every
Thursday, will look at all of the
cases individually before making
any decisions regarding disciplin-
ary action. Five officers on the task
force are trained in the investigation
process.
When an allegation arises, the
taskforce first interviews house
members. Depending on the alle-
gations, the taskforce then decides
what action to take, Bach said.
Dec. 8, marked the final step for a new
social policy that will radically change
Greek system parties next semester.
The Interfraternity Council adopted
an amendment that "strongly encour-
ages" fraternity houses to have people
sign waivers when entering a party. This
proposition is optional for houses, unlike
the requirements passed a week earlier
for parties requiring that Greeks must
limit the number of guests at their par-
ties, register parties in advance, adopt
a bring-your-own alcohol policy and
include monitors at the door and inside.
While the changes will require the
Greek system to restrict and monitor the
number of people attending fraternity
parties, they will still be open to all Uni-
versity students, and not just members of
the Greek system.
The Greek community has adopted
these changes to make parties safer, keep
them fun and to reduce chapters' liabil-
ity in the event of a lawsuit, said Alan
Lovi, IFC spokesman. The changes take
effect next semester, but there will be no
fraternity parties for the first weekend
after classes begin because new Social
Responsibility Committee monitors
must be trained before they can watch
over parties.
"There's two real big challenges -
execution of the plan and enforcement,
said Dustin Schmuldt, incoming vice
president of social policy. "We want to
educate people that we're not ostracizing
(students), and to make them realize that
our parties were out of control."
Fraternities must register parties and
tell SRC, a board that ensures adherence
to party regulations, how many people
will be in attendance. A tier system, con-
tingent on the estimated guest list, will
determine the monitoring level of each
party by SRC.
The first tier will allow up to 100 people
to attend, including fraternity members
living in that house. Monitors from SRC
will be required to attend the party. SRC
monitors would regulate party attendance
at the door and try to keep the party safe
inside. Once the party reaches its limit,
the SRC monitors must prohibit more
people from going in until others leave.
Second-tier parties will allow twice
as many people and require more SRC
monitors.
The third tier will be the largest per-
mitted by the Greek system, allowing
fraternity members and from 200 to400
extra people in a party with numerous
SRC monitors.
No matter what the size of the party,
all attendees must show their Mcard at
the door and bring their own alcohol,
which may be up to a six-pack of beer
or one pint of liquor per person. Once
inside, a person will have the option of
holding their alcohol or keeping it at a
check-in station where it will be given
back to them when they ask for it.
In tddition, some houses may ask
people to sign a waiver, drafted by a
lawyer, which aims to reduce fraterni-
ties' liability for partygoers' negligence.
Pi Kappa Alpha already uses this waiver
at all of its parties.
"I think that it may be a good idea to
help the problems that have been associ-
ated with frat parties," said LSA junior
Lisa Gluck. "But it's going to be difficult
to enforce it."
New IFC members will be partially
in charge of enforcing the social policy
they adopted when their new members
take office and the policy take effect
next month. "There's a lot of pressure
I'm putting on myself to get things
done," said incoming IFC President
Michael Caplan. "By no means is our
community perfect. We're aspiring to
keep building on the foundation that
was built before us."
*I
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