War against drinking rages on

The University's battle against binge drinking came to the forefront this year, and, according to a Penn State Pulse survey, the University may be winning the war.

The survey, taken in February, shows the number of students that said alcohol is a hazard has increased in the past three years. Of the 697 students who participated, 57 percent recognized drinking as a problem, compared with 52 percent in 1996 and 44 percent in 1995.

"With all the discussion about the recent accidents," said Matt Miller (junior-elementary education), "I can agree that awareness has increased."

Recent tragedies, increased alcohol education, enforcement of the alcohol intervention program and the decision of several fraternities to turn dry within the next few years have highlighted concerns about drinking this year.

The University's programming, along with alcohol-related accidents, may have caused greater concern about alcohol consumption this year, said Mollie Beard (freshman-division of undergraduate studies).

"Students fall out of windows and the University combats alcohol with stringent consequences." Beard said. "Something has to hit home and moderate drinking sooner or later."

In addition to the rise in awareness, fewer students this year reported meeting the criteria for binge drinking, according to the survey. Male binge drinkers consume five or more drinks at one time, while female binge drinkers consume four or more drinks. Forty-three percent of the men and 46 percent of the women surveyed said they binge drank this year, compared to 51 percent of men and 54 percent of women in 1996.

"There is a noticeable move away from binge drinking and toward responsible drinking," said Jonathan Reed (freshman-theatre arts).

A trend toward more moderate drinking can be detected in the survey. More students reported not drinking at all, drinking on fewer occasions and drinking less per occasion, on average.

But Laura Donelson (sophomore-biotechnology) said she does not believe in the validity of the survey and questions the results.

"Accidents have increased awareness and caused students to realize there are serious consequences, but students aren't being any more careful than they were before," Donelson said. "A small percentage may be more careful, but there are still as many heavy binge drinkers."