Statistics from the latest Penn State Pulse survey suggest that more students are making poor choices about alcohol consumption in Happy Valley. Forty percent of students said they have five or more drinks in a night -- up from 37 percent in 2002. And that is just the tip of the iceberg.

According to the survey, 75 percent of freshmen said they drink alcoholic beverages. This is much more than a majority -- and hardly something to boast about.

These results should be a wake-up call to the university and the community. However, instead of talking about solutions, university health officials are considering keeping last year's "Party Smart" alcohol awareness campaign that boasts that 70 percent of students have zero to four drinks when they party.

University health officials must change this campaign to reflect the new statistics, or they must start a new advertising campaign. Officials have said these findings are nothing to celebrate, and they are right.

Binge drinking is a serious problem in State College. Apparently, the social "norming" scheme of the "Party Smart" campaign was not a huge success.

University health officials have questioned the integrity of the findings because of new survey methods. This year's survey solicited responses from students via e-mail. We believe these results are more accurate than past years' because students are more likely to respond honestly when their answers are more anonymous.

If officials were not sure about the accuracy using e-mail as a survey method, why did they conduct it this way? Perhaps there should be more communication between the Student Affairs Research and Assessment Office and University Health Services.

It is important to take the margin of error into consideration when looking at this survey. A large margin of error can make a difference on how the statistics should be read. According to the survey, it is "statistically significant" to the 3 percent level.

We hope the university takes this survey seriously and acts accordingly. Instead of blaming the methods used, they should work harder to decrease drinking.

When a survey suggests 83 percent of Penn State students drink, there might be a problem in Happy Valley.