Incidents of AU students caught intoxicated or with alcohol on campus increased over the past two years, a nationwide trend that has prompted university organizations and consumer advocates in Washington, D.C. to launch a campaign warning people about the negative effects of drinking.
The number of alcohol violations - students caught drinking, drunk or in alcohol-fueled fights - rose from 200 in 2003 to 294 in 2004, according to Public Safety.
"It's definitely an increase," said Sgt. Maurice Carter, a spokesman for Public Safety, "we're spending an awful lot of resources answering and responding to alcohol related calls."
AU's main campus is officially dry, meaning no alcohol is allowed, even for those of age, but that hasn't stopped students from drinking. About 85 to 90 percent of ambulances called to the campus are for students who have become violently ill from drinking alcohol, Carter said. Ambulance calls rose from 81 in 2003 to 132 in 2004, he added, and there have been 87 calls to date this year.
A weeklong alcohol awareness campaign kicks off today and organizers hope it will help students make "balanced" lifestyle choices.
Several campus events are planned in conjunction with National Collegiate Alcohol Awareness Week, including guest speakers, movie parties and mock game shows aimed at educating students on the consequences of excessive drinking. "The campus is looking at what other alternatives we offer if students chose not to drink," said Rick Treter, director of residence life. We recently installed a game and recreation center in Letts Hall that stays open until 2 a.m., Treter said, in response to student requests for late-night activities.
Students drinking to excess is not a problem confined to AU. A recent study of 76,000 students at 130 American colleges and universities published in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol found 60 percent of students thought it was common for their peers to consume three or more drinks. The study concluded that students exposed to alcohol educational programs reduced the number of drinks they consumed.
Part of the strategy to make students and the public aware of the negative health effects related to drinking is to provide nutritional labeling on beer, wine, and liquor, according to a national consumer group.
Labeling alcoholic beverages would allow people to make "more informed choices about the consumption of alcohol," said Linda Golodner, president of the National Consumers League - a Washington-based advocacy group - at a press conference last Wednesday. Labels should include the number of calories per serving, the standard serving size, the number of servings per container, as well as advice on moderate consumption of alcohol. Alcoholic beverages are the only edible product that is not required to carry nutritional information on its label, Golodner said.
Producers have been able to avoid the labeling required on other consumable products because beer, wine, and liquor are not considered to be food, according to Stacy Snelling, an associate professor in the department of health and fitness at AU, even though they are a significant source of carbohydrates and calories.
Snelling, who teaches a nutrition course, said "I see more mouths open wide when [my students] see how many calories they get from drinking, especially mixed drinks."
Mixed drinks, like rum-and-coke and margaritas, can contain anywhere from 300-500 calories, while regular beer usually contains 150-175 calories, and light beer around 120, Snelling said. The average female college student, who is not an athlete, should consume anywhere from 1600-2200 per day, while a male should consume around 2500.
The biggest problem with the calories that come from alcoholic beverages, she said, is that they are digested as fat and stored as fat. Drinking three margaritas over the course of an evening would mean ingesting close to 150 grams of fat, Snelling said, drinking regularly "may contribute to [students'] weight gain during the college years"
