Students drink 'til they're drunk

By LAURA M. BOSCARINO
Collegian Staff Writer

When she drank strawberry daiquiris, vodka and nine too many beers on a Saturday night, a University student drank way beyond her limit.

On her adventure home, this woman threw up on the Loop, was carried off the bus and fell face-first into the muddy ground. After dry-heaving for a while, her friends carried her to her bed. Then she passed out.

This woman drinks excessively with her friends every weekend. She goes out at night with the intention of drinking until she gets drunk. And she likes it.

"It's the only way we can deal with parties. Fraternities are always so crowded, and it's not fun being sober alone," she said. "When everyone around you is drunk and you're not, it's annoying. But when you're drunk with everyone else, it's fun."

This woman is one of 41 percent of University students who binge drink every weekend, said Natalie Croll, assistant director of the Office of Health Promotion and Education. But she added that the University mirrors the national figures among college students.

Binge drinking, she said, is four drinks for a woman, five for a man. Croll reports that although one-third of students would rather not deal with alcohol because of the embarrassing and often serious consequences it attracts, most of them binge drink anyway.

Tim Fallon (freshman-division of undergraduate studies) said sometimes he drinks to blow off steam, such as after a big exam. Other times, he gets "wasted just to get wasted." Others find that drinking in excess is a way to relax and to get a good laugh.

"It's a social crutch to stand there drinking a beer rather than standing alone," said Erica Haines (sophomore-liberal arts).

Both Fallon and Haines are members in the Greek system, but they do not think that excessive drinking only happens in fraternity houses.

Interfraternity Council President Bruce Booth said if anything, alcohol awareness is more prominent in the Greek system.

"Most freshman are totally unaware of the problems with alcohol abuse. Pledging a fraternity makes them more aware of alcohol issues," he said.

Booth said studies done by the National Interfraternity Council in the past few years show that binge drinking has not increased among fraternity members.

Although binge drinking among fraternity members has not increased, according to the National IFC newsletter -- Campus Commentary -- 86 percent of fraternity men are binge drinkers.

But drinking is not limited to fraternity houses and apartments. The bars around State College often deal with excessive drinkers, said Hal McCullough, owner of Cafe 210 West, 210 W. College Ave.

"We do whatever we have to do to get them home safely," McCullough said.

This means either calling a taxi on the customer's expense, or personally driving or walking them home. Occasionally McCullough has had to restrict certain people from returning to his establishment for a variety of reasons.

Cafe 210 West trains bartenders in a three-hour program called the "Serve Safe Program." This is a national program that trains the staff, managers and door persons on alcohol awareness. They are taught when to stop serving drinks and how to deal with excessive drinkers in the establishment.

Second-hand binge effects are also a common problem on campus. There are many ways that people are affected by binge drinkers. Croll, along with HealthWorks is trying to organize a group of students who will make their rights better known to binge drinkers.

Binge drinkers often inflict these second-hand effects on their roommates. The roommates must face the noises that binge drinkers make when they come home drunk.

Other binge drinkers target other friends by crashing in their rooms late at night because they're too drunk to find their way home. Croll said these privacy rights are violated weekly, and second-hand binge effects are being addressed with an increase in drinking.

Despite all the efforts made to control drinking by educators such as Croll, students continue to drink excessively.

The woman who drank too much this past weekend said she never wants to get drunk to the point of unconsciousness again, but she will continue to go out looking to get drunk again and again.