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 Study Abroad with the Office of International Programs DONATION Continued from page 1C "This is a powerful expression in someone's belief in us," Dolan said. Business school junior Sukaina Sangji said she was amazed when she heard the news of the donation. "It is an extraordinary amount of money. It is great for the school. The new additions and improvements they want to do look really cool," she said. Sangji said the gift will signal to employers and other business schools the quality of the University. "Now everyone in the country can see that the (Business) School is to be reckoned with. The alumni go on to do so much. There are very success- ful and generous alumni from this school," Sangji added. 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