Despite recent concerns about full alcohol education classrooms and negative stigmas associated with campus alcohol consumption, some University of Wisconsin students, faculty and organizations are optimistic about dispelling UW’s party image.
Janet DuBerry, a facilitator for Alcohol Smart, an alcohol education program, said in a radio interview with WIBA Sunday morning the program is adding additional classes to account for UW students.
DuBerry voiced concerns regarding student-drinking culture and described UW students as “drinking thoughtlessly” without regard for consequences.
Alcohol Smart teaches court ordered alcohol offenders safe alcohol practices and decision-making.
Heather Diaz, substance abuse counselor-in-training and program assistant coordinator for Alcohol Smart, said classes for February are full, with few spots left in March.
Student binge drinking, or episodic high-risk drinking, is drinking to get drunk and have fun, a phenomenon unique to college campuses, said Aaron Brower, vice provost for teaching and learning.
“Binge drinking is a serious problem on campus,” Brower said. “To address the complex problem as a whole, solutions must be comprehensive and require community coordination.”
Students who create problems on campus are promoting what Sue Pastor, community health specialist and co-chair of the campus alcohol task force, calls “Animal House behavior.”
Only a few individuals are necessary to enforce UW’s label as an “extreme party school,” she said, adding she hopes new programs focused on alcohol safety and campus culture could help change the behavior.
Brower, also the principal investigator for the Policy, Alternatives, Community and Education project, said annual web surveys sent to students by the PACE project revealed 66 percent of students admitting to having five or more drinks in one sitting in the last two weeks.
According to Brower, this is 22 percent higher than national numbers for college students.
However, despite the high numbers of binge drinkers, Brower said the percentage of students who identify themselves as frequent drinkers is declining, while those who abstain from drinking is increasing.
Brower also said campus groups have been working to enforce drinking policies and implement new programs to educate students on the consequences of binge drinking.
“We have a proud history of being a party school, but partying is more than drinking,” he said. “We have a reputation and pride in enjoying ourselves, but I think the acceptance of drinking in ways that create problems for ourselves and others is slowly changing.”
From a student perspective, UW senior Mark Woulf, undergraduate representative on the Alcohol and Other Drug Task Force and member of the Alcohol License Review Committee, said he believes young students experiment with drinking when they first come to Madison, but most other students drink responsibly.
“Inexperience is the problem; students are thrown into a drinking culture,” Woulf said.
UW needs to incorporate alcohol education into their curriculum and continue to seek student perspectives in decision-making, he added.
