Awareness month teaches about alcohol

Alcohol Awareness Month, observed in April throughout the United States, is a national grassroots effort to support research, education, intervention and treatment for alcoholism and alcohol-related problems.\nAccording to its Web site, www.ncadd.org, the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence has led the event since 1987. The group offers organizations with varying missions an opportunity to work together and raise awareness about the negative consequences of drinking.\nIU has been active in Alcohol Awareness Month, offering a variety of programs and events during April. The month holds a special importance for IU, as April plays host to many end-of-the-year bashes and the Little 500, an event celebrated with partying.\nGraduate student Dee Owens, director of the Alcohol and Drug Information Center, said Alcohol Awareness Month is an instrumental part of encouraging responsible behavior concerning alcohol. She said it is fitting to use the month to focus on alcohol awareness, considering how many alcohol-related problems occur during the week of the Little 500 race.\nOwens said she was pleased the greek community was taking an active role in the programming for Alcohol Awareness Month this year. Although statistics indicate there is a heavier occurrence of drinking within fraternities than outside of the greek system on campus, she said, the leaders of Interfraternity Council and the Panhellenic Association are working toward a resolution. But, like anything else, Owens said, it takes time.\n"It's like a diet -- you have to take weight off one bite at a time," Owens said.\nInterfraternity Council President Ben Schmidt, a senior, also said Alcohol Awareness Month comes at an appropriate time because it coincides with Little 500.\n"I hope that everyone will remain safe by applying some of the lessons they've learned this month," Schmidt said.\nFraternities and alcohol are often linked, Schmidt said, but he said he doesn't feel the two are always connected.\n"There is no doubt that fraternities have a reputation that includes alcohol use, but the 'Animal House' image that is often inferred by using 'alcohol' and 'fraternity' in the same breath is not true of most of our chapters," Schmidt said. "Interfraternity Council is helping our chapters to focus their efforts in other areas of chapter life like academics, philanthropy, community service and campus involvement."\nProgramming offered during Alcohol Awareness Month includes informational sessions, personal screenings and a special bus that runs the Friday and Saturday of Little 500 Week to discourage drunken driving. \nThis year, two of the main events relating to alcohol safety are the National Alcohol Screening Day and the Alcohol Summit. At 6:30 p.m. Tuesday in the Indiana Memorial Union's Whittenberger Auditorium, the Alcohol Summit will focus on the importance of safety and responsibility when drinking and feature speakers including Dean of Students Richard McKaig.\nNational Alcohol Screening Day, which was organized on campusby Counseling and Psychological Services and took place Thursday, was designed to educate students about the dangers of irresponsible drinking and allow students to assess their alcohol tendencies. The assessments were also used for research. \nAlthough the program has been running nationally for three years, it was the University's second time sponsoring the screening day. The program consisted of three parts: an educational presentation, a personal assessment test and an opportunity for participants to speak with health counselors about their discoveries.\nThe assessment consisted of a series of questions associated with alcohol intake, and then provided a point system designed to help evaluate the participant's alcohol behavior. CAPS also provided quizzes, prizes and informative brochures for participants. \nHolly Mull, a psychology intern with CAPS, said she was overwhelmed with the responses from students about the screening day. Mull said she hoped the results from the assessments would hit home with students, especially considering some of the tragic alcohol-related incidents that have occurred this year.\nMull also said it was the greek community that came forward to help the most with the program. She said the Panhellenic Association called CAPS about sponsoring the screening day.\n"I was tremendously encouraged to see the responses from students today, particularly women in sororities because I got to give feedback and I feel I made a difference," Mull said.\nNational Alcohol Screening Day is a program of Screening for Mental Health and is conducted in collaboration with the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment and the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention. \nCAPS Chief Psychologist Nancy Stockton said the national program sends information and then designs the screening forms so they are the same at every university, thus allowing researchers to compare students at IU with other college campuses. \n"The program is a very gratifying experience designed to educate students about their alcohol decisions," Stockton said.\nStockton said students can contact the Alcohol and Drug Information Center on campus, or consult one of the many informative Web sites about National Alcohol Screening Day.\nJunior Samantha Seigelman, a participant in the screening day, said she found the assessment and the quiz to be interesting and informative.\nBut Seigelman said she didn't think National Alcohol Screening Day would have a lasting effect.\n"Just like many of the alcohol-related tragedies that have occurred on this campus, I think people will think about it for a few weeks, and then go back to their same drinking routine. I don't think it's really going to make a lasting difference," Seigelman said.