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Editorial: Class won’t fix drinking problem

Published: Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Updated: Tuesday, August 3, 2010 23:08

In an effort to curb underage alcohol abuse and consumption, West Virginia University is requiring all incoming freshmen and under-21 transfers to enroll in AlcoholEdu, an online alcohol awareness program which will be administered by WELL WVU.

"Since 2001, the program has been developed. The University decided that now is the right time, which is a direct result of the formation of WELL WVU, and it fits with our strategic plan for prevention," said Colleen Harshbarger, director of Student Wellness, in the July 28 edition of The Daily Athenaeum.

The program focuses on health behaviors and consequences associated with alcohol consumption and takes approximately two to three hours to complete.

It consists of low-quality videos, comics, cartoons, intermittent quizzes and lengthy surveys gauging your relative attentiveness and personal alcohol-related behavior.

Fortunately, it does not have to be completed in one sitting.

Incoming students who do not enroll and complete part 1 of AlcoholEdu by Sept. 3 will be charged $50 to their student account.

While the move by West Virginia University to require alcohol education to all incoming freshmen is a step in the right direction, the staff of The Daily Athenaeum questions the likelihood of its effectiveness.

This is especially true at WVU, where a culture of drinking and partying has become so deeply ingrained, which has helped us reach our No. 4 party school ranking, according to the Princeton Review.

The University needs to do more to prevent binge drinking and dangerous alcohol-related behaviors. But generic online classes won't do the trick.

Yes, AlcoholEdu comes with some rather sterling evidence to support its efficacy.

But most, if not all, the "scientific" research regarding the success of AlcoholEdu is derived from student surveys.

Students whose positive responses might have been influenced by the desire to not feel as if they wasted several hours of their life.

Furthermore, we take exception to the fact that students will be charged a $50 fee for not taking part in such frivolous education.

Yes, the charge can be avoided, but when did the University start threatening its students with punitive damages?

The University is working hard to provide a safe environment for its students.

But we deserve more than gimmicks. Safe drinking habits should be promoted in University 101, on a more personal level and supported by student leaders across campus.

People change a culture. AlcoholEdu, on the other hand, will become little more than a running joke for most.
 

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1 comments

Patchy
Wed Aug 4 2010 11:50
The most effective way to combat underage drinking is to lower the drinking age to 18 (or possibly 19) again.

Simple? Silly? Self-evident? Perhaps. But it will work.

All of the bluster about alcohol (binge drinking etc.) ignores one fact: for 3/4 of an undergraduate population alcohol is forbidden fruit due to the 21 age restriction. Yes some bars will allow 18-and-up in and we all know that (wink wink) these 18+ customers MIGHT have a tipple or two.'

But prohibition and an arbitrary age limit simply increase demand. In the case of college students the demand and the prohibition set up a challenge, a game to be won at all costs. Consumption of alcohol in moderation is, or was, a rite of passage into adulthood. Social drinking is called that for a reason. When alcohol becomes contraband then access to that contraband can become an obsession. When the object of the obsession is obtained the next logical (?) step is to go absolutely hog-wild. Overconsumption becomes the norm because in the back of the mind of every underage drinker is "when and where will I have access to alcohol again?"

The 21 drinking age has failed on two fronts: it has failed to prevent or even reduce consumption; indeed, it has increased it in many cases. Worse, it has created hundreds if not thousands of unsupervised speakeasies in the form of dorm rooms, apartments, off-campus houses, etc. where social drinking i.e. a public display of being able to consume and still function as a rational human being is nowhere to be found. Instead, interaction is limited to drinking-oriented games (e.g. beer pong) and constant exhortations to consume stupor-inducing quantities of alcohol (beer bongs, shots, etc.).

In sum, the 21 drinking age is an overreach that stands the process of socialization on its head and stunts the growth of students by forcing them into a state of arrested development. They remain children but children with easy access to oceans of beer and spirits rather than young adults who frequent licensed venues in order to drink, yes, but also to (hopefully) continue the process of maturation via interaction.







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