For the first time, Marquette University has initiated a mandatory alcohol education class for freshmen this fall in an effort to teach students about the potential effects of drinking.

AlcoholEdu, an online program, aims to educate students about the harms of alcohol consumption. A majority of the program will be conducted before classes begin.

"We're trying to get students in a position to make good decisions about that behavior," said Brigid O'Brien-Miller, director of Marquette University communications. "Students coming into a life of more freedom may experiment with alcohol."

The class teaches students about blood-alcohol content, the effects of alcohol on memory, strategies for good decision-making, and alcohol-related laws, O'Brien-Miller added.

AlcoholEdu was developed by Outside the Classroom, a Boston-based public health activist group, and O'Brien-Miller said the program is used by 450 other colleges and universities around the nation.

"The class offers a broad overview for students who may choose to drink or not to drink," O'Brien-Miller added. "We want students to understand the impacts alcohol use can have on education, on peers and friends, and be in a good position to make good decisions."

However, mandatory classes teaching alcohol awareness were not readily accepted by everyone.

Merrilee Pickett, senior lecturer on Alcohol & Drug Programs for UW-Madison, says a mandatory program wouldn't hurt, but she questions the effects of it.

"It's hard to believe that college students don't know the risks of abusive drinking, unwanted sexual contact and other kinds of victimization, blackouts, arrests, missed classes, risky behavior," Pickett wrote in an e-mail to The Badger Herald.

UW-Madison Dean of Students Lori Berquam said alcohol education programs are good, but noted it is difficult to make them mandatory, as Marquette has.

"I'm not a big proponent of mandatory classes," Berquam said, adding such programs could build student resentment.

O'Brien-Miller, however, said the university has heard nothing but positive results.

"Some students learned new things, while others saw it as a bit of a refresher," she added.

UW does not have a mandatory program, but Susan Crowley, project director of UW's Policy Alternatives Community Education, said UW does offer a program, E-Chug, through its website.

"E-Chug is widely advertised to new students, both during summer orientation and upon arrival on campus," Crowley said. "It's designed to be a personal assessment tool to assess individual student drinking against other student drinking on campus."

Crowley believes E-Chug is a better alternative than AlcoholEdu because there is no way to guarantee all students at UW-Madison would take the mandatory program.

"One of the challenges of implementing a required class for freshmen is that UW-Madison does not yet have a required freshmen program in which alcohol education might occur," Crowley said. "Without a specific designation of a class required of all freshmen, there is not a vehicle to assure that all freshmen are receiving the same message."

In addition, Crowley said E-Chug is cheaper because it pays a flat rate of $600 to cover all students while AlcoholEdu charges on a per-student basis.

Crowley added that students who wish to talk to a counselor about their alcohol use are invited to visit UHS.