College Binge Drinking, Is It a Problem?

College Binge Drinking, is it a Problem?

Many college students throughout the nation partake in some form of drinking, whether it be at a sporting event, a social function, or parties in Greek housing. Drinking is fun, but can be overdone if the alcohol is in the wrong hands. It's not uncommon for students to reach a state of drunkenness that is potentially lethal. In my mind, drinking in general is completely acceptable, even if you do drink to excess. It just depends on how often you do it and to what extent. The reason I chose this topic is because I am a member of a fraternity and unfortunately I see a lot of this behavior among my fellow students and Greek brothers. Not only am I a witness of this behavior, I am also a participant. There are times when I can overdo it and believe it or not I could be a potential statistic. This issue presents a problem, because students are getting injured, participating in sexual acts they didn't intend, and even dying because of their choices. I believe this problem is worth attention because it really is a big issue through out the US and even the world. It is also an issue that has been the subject of some fascinating research producing large amount of statistics relating to my topic. I find it interesting to read about the events and occurrences that take place on college campuses relating to binge drinking, because I can relate to the topic so well.

Students tend to have pretty liberal views about what constitutes a single drink. In fact, if a student tells us they had three drinks, there's a good chance it was more like five or six. This is a big difference, particularly if we're trying to figure out how many students qualify as 'binge drinkers' based on their self-reported drinking habits. (College Students).

This article, College Students Underestimate Their Drinking, brought up the point that students who claim they have about three to four drinks a night are actually consuming about six to seven. The reason for this is that most people who drink alcohol, whether it is in a keg cup or a Nalgene bottle, aren't educated on the amount of alcohol that actually equates to one drink. The Harvard School of Public Health College did a study and asked the student to fill up a 32 ounce cup with his choice of alcohol, keeping in mind that 12 ounces of beer is equivalent to 1 ounce of 40 proof liquor, and the outcome of the experiment was that most of the students filled their cups up with an average of three portions per cup. In the student's perspective, his one cup drink turns into a three drink beverage. So at the end of the night, if you haven't blacked out yet, and you've had five stiff rum and Cokes, it actually turns out to be roughly 15 drinks. I don't care who you are, unless you're a larger person, 15 drinks will eventually put you in the drunken state of "What did I do last night and was I a jack ass," or "Where am I, and how did I get here?"

I can see where this issue of drink portions could lead to problems. I can also see how many statistics could be misleading because of this inaccuracy. In my fraternity it is a requirement by our Nationals that each chapter completes a program called Alcohol Edu, a national website that educates the public on drinking, and passes a test with a 80% or above. The program is designed to make you aware of the ramifications of binge drinking and I am sure that it affected some of my fraternity brothers to not drink as much or not drink at all. This did educate me on drinking and after completion I was more aware of the outcome of binge drinking and portion sizes. It still didn't persuade me one way or the other to stop drinking or to tone it down a bit. An interesting internet source that I found has many statistics on drinking in college. This source, What College Presidents Need to Know about College Drinking provides some very valid materials. One statistic that caught my eye is valid to some point, but in the end I disagree with it:

The proportion of college students who drink varies depending on where they live. Drinking rates are highest in fraternities and sororities, followed by on-campus housing (e.g., dormitories, residence halls). Students who live independently off-site (e.g., in apartments) drink less, while commuting students who live with their families drink the least (What College Presidents Need to Know About College Drinking).

The U of I is a Greek driven campus and yes, some fraternities do drink in their houses. My house, on the other hand is a dry living community. We are not allowed to have any type of drugs in our establishment, including alcohol, marijuana, or any other controlled substance. If you are caught with a drug, your membership is terminated. So the statement, "Drinking rates are highest in fraternities and sororities," could be argued against, in my case. For the students who do drink and go to social functions I'm assuming the researchers are fully aware that a large portion of drinking takes place off campus in apartments and other houses. For example, the Taylor Street Apartments are always hopping with partying students. I would say that a large majority of drinking on this campus happens off campus. So I can disagree with "Students who live independently off-site (e.g., in apartments) drink less," keeping in mind that this is based on my experience. Looking at a broader perspective however, some college campuses have many Greek houses that dominate the area and I can see where this statistic is accurate because other living groups do not have places to drink like some Greek houses.

The easiest solution to this problem would be to make all Greek houses dry. But if you did this, then drinking activities would just move to off campus locations, which would result in more problems, like drinking and driving. You have to get from point A to point B somehow and for the most part off campus buildings are some distance from the school. Then the solution seems to be designated drivers. Even though this sounds peachy, not everyone has the best judgment when drinking nor do they care about getting a ride from a sober person. They would rather drive themselves because they think they can drink and drive. Vandal Taxi, which was organized by ASUI on our campus, lasted roughly two school years. That means that we could possibly have a problem with drunk driving because the program wasn't used. Drinking in excess leads to drunk driving and making poor choices and the result of these two problems can be lethal.

Before I even started my research on binge drinking I knew it was a problem, I just didn't know how widespread it is. As my research went on, I knew I had to find some source to help me think of