Kristin Harty Barkley
Cumberland Times-News
—
FROSTBURG — The real estate agent handed Frostburg State University student Phillip Blackwood a “Reality Check” brochure when he moved into off-campus housing last week.
Covered with clip art of wine glasses and beer mugs, it contained some sobering information about alcohol abuse among college students.
Last fall, for example, 84 FSU students received alcohol citations. Another 72 FSU students were arrested or received citations for violations associated with drinking.
Nationally, an estimated 1,700 college students die every year due to alcohol-related causes, the brochure said, quoting National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism statistics.
“I actually looked through it,” said Blackwood, 22, who transferred to FSU this fall from Anne Arundel Community College. “I wanted to see what they said. They gave the dangers of binge drinking and stuff like that. Ways to, like, if you’re going to drink, pace yourself.”
As the fall semester begins, FSU officials are bolstering efforts to educate students about alcohol abuse — distributing brochures, hosting alcohol-free activities, and requiring all 1,070 freshmen to complete a web-based alcohol education class.
Last week, FSU President Jonathan Gibralter sent a mass e-mail to the student body, encouraging them to be smart about how they party.
“I ask that if you are going to drink, please do so responsibly,” Gibralter said in the letter. “Last year, within the first week of school, a student had to be taken to the hospital as a result of consuming too much alcohol. If you you see someone in need of medical attention, please contact medical professionals immediately. Don’t wait.”
At FSU, similar awareness campaigns have taken place since fall of 2006, when Gibralter launched a “zero tolerance” alcohol policy after a community member was seriously hurt at an off-campus party.
Alarmed by national statistics and the abuses he was seeing locally, Gibralter created an Alcohol Task Force of administrators, community members, law enforcement, students, and others, to help change the campus ‘party school’ culture.
The work has earned Gibralter national recognition for FSU’s efforts to curb binge drinking.
And officials believe that students are beginning to take some of the suggestions to heart.
“Our data tells us that we’re moving in the right direction,” said Dean of Students Jesse Ketterman. In 1997, for example, surveys showed that 90 percent of FSU students drank alcohol at least once a month. In 2009, that number was 69.5 percent.
In 2004, 40 percent of entering freshmen indicated they abstained from alcohol, compared to 57 percent in 2008, data shows.
“We’re beginning to see a shift in our student demographic,” Ketterman said. “We’re looking at trying to reinforce those students who think it’s OK not to drink. ... We know that students at this age are going to experiment. The more information we can provide to them, the better choices they can make.”
The “Reality Check” brochure and a related website are among the most recent tools developed by the Alcohol Task Force, and some area landlords are partnering with FSU to distribute the pamphlets to tenants, said Jeff Graham, associate dean of students.
Students who live in university dorms are also receiving the brochures, Graham said.
FSU junior Brittany Morrison, 20, said she appreciates the university’s efforts to educate students about the dangers of alcohol abuse.
“My roommate’s been drinking every day since she’s been back,” said Morrison, who said she doesn’t drink. “It happens in the beginning of the semester because everybody gets their refund check, so they go out and buy alcohol. After the refund check, that’s when it slows down a lot.”
FSU is “kind of” a party school, Morrison said, “but not really.”
“The university understands that students in college are going to drink,” said Morrison, who passed the alcohol education class when she was a freshman. “So they provide safety measures, like Safe Ride, to take you where you want to go. I like that because it takes a lot of drunk drivers off the roads. It keeps us safe.”
Contact Kristin Harty Barkley at kbarkley@times-news.com.
