Residence Life
fights binge drinking
with stiffer penalties,
alternative activities

We need militant students--nondrinkers and social drinkers--who will look at abusive drinkers and say, 'Hey, you need to get yourselves under control! Your drinking costs us our sleep, our grades and our money!'" says Cynthia E. Cummings, residence life.

Cummings compares the office's new slant on responsible drinking to successful anti-smoking campaigns that have been waged throughout the country in recent years.

"Nonsmokers have been vocal about their right not to be exposed to second-hand smoke, and we want to urge nondrinkers and those who drink responsibly to do the same. These students need to be vocal about their right to an environment that does not subject them to the second-hand effects of alcohol abuse," she explained.

"Our students who are responsible about alcohol are the ones who most suffer the second-hand effects of alcohol abuse. They may witness fights, see people get sick, find someone passed out in the bathroom or be the ones who have to stay up all night with a friend who has had too much to drink, worrying about that person's safety.

"Rowdiness from drinking may disrupt other students' sleep or study habits, and these other students also share in the repair costs for residence hall damage that often result from someone drinking too much," Cummings added.

In many ways, the Office of Residence Life is at the heart of the University's efforts to curb binge drinking and other forms of alcohol abuse. Alcohol-related infractions that occur in residence halls are sent to residence life for immediate attention.

"Until this year, if a student had a first-time alcohol violation, he or she received a warning and had an informal meeting with the hall director. This year, we've eliminated that step--there is no warning. A first-time offense automatically puts the student into the University's judicial process," she said.

As of Oct. 20, residence life had held preliminary hearings for 149 alcohol violations (278 cases total) since the beginning of the semester, Cummings said.

"The numbers are pretty typical, though only a fraction of them would have gone through the judicial system in the past." Cummings said. "But, what we are most pleased about is that, usually, over the first few weekends of school, we send eight to 10 students to the Newark Emergency Room or Christiana Hospital for alcohol overdoses. So far this year, we've only had three."

Going right into the judicial system for a first-time offense is startling to some students, Cummings said. Depending on the outcome, the student can be subject to a $50 fine, mandatory attendance at an alcohol education class and parental notification.

"The fines and parental notification have made students generally more anxious about violations," Cummings said.

The office relies heavily on the media to get their points about responsible drinking across to students, Cummings said.

"It's been our experience that students won't turn out in large numbers for programs on drinking," Cummings said. "Programs on relationships, careers, those they'll come to, but we have to find alternative means to get alcohol messages across."

What the office has done is to hold a student poster contest to promote responsible drinking, film a video "Delaware on the Rocks," produced a series of public service announcements for SLTV and given students fake bills that show the high costs of alcohol-related damages to residence halls.

Interest in the annual poster contest has increased rapidly over the last three years, Cummings said, with student judges leaning more and more toward dark images that show the effects of alcohol consuming someone's life.

"The response we got from our initial contest was that the images weren't shocking enough," Cummings said. This year's winner features a distraught young man trapped in a cocktail glass.

"Delaware on the Rocks," which won a regional award for innovative programming, describes the culture of abusive drinking on the UD campus. In a series of interviews, students discuss when, why and how much they drink. The video ends with a sobering questionnaire that allows those watching to assess their own drinking habits. Referrals for help are also included.

Because studies show that students who engage in volunteer activities and those who have an interest in cultural events are less likely to engage in abusive alcohol use, residence life has found ways to make both of those options available to students.

As part of a larger volunteer initiative, each residence hall is being asked to adopt a local agency and create an yearlong relationship with it--sending groups of students to volunteer for the cause whenever possible.

Additionally, residence life planned and promoted "Art Under the Stars," an evening of cultural entertainment on the lawn of Hartshorn Hall. Held Sept. 19, the alcohol-free evening included performances by the Professional Theatre Training Program, the faculty jazz ensemble, a steel drum band and local singer Antje Duvekot.

"We've tried to approach this concern from a variety of angles," Cummings said. "We want to create a milieu that fosters no drinking for those who are under age and moderate, responsible drinking for those who are legal."

-Beth Thomas