Survey: Values change among new students

A recent report on incoming college freshmen found that college culture is slowly changing.\nWhile students are becoming more involved in volunteer activities and politics, they are becoming less involved in religious activities.\nThe report is based on an annual survey conducted by the Higher Education Research Institute at UCLA.\nThe institute surveyed 263,000 students at 385 four-year colleges and universities nationwide. Students were asked to answer several hundred questions about their social values, habits, politics and family and financial situations.\nAccording to the report, more than 66 percent of incoming college freshmen think it is important to "help others in difficulty." More than 83 percent of students said they participated in community service activities as a high school senior and more than 67 percent of students said they intended to participate in some kind of service activity in college.\nJohn Pryor, director of the survey, said a higher percentage of students involved in community service could be because of recent environmental disasters.\n"The Indian Ocean tsunami occurred during (the surveyed students') high school senior year, and Hurricane Katrina hit the southern Gulf Region in August, as many students began college," he said in a press release. "This widespread rise in student attitudes reflecting social concerns and civic responsibility could be a reaction to the worst global and national disasters witnessed in their lifetime."\nIU students responded to the disasters through service groups. The Campus Crusade for Christ group sent about 40 students to New Orleans in December 2005 to help at supply camps and homes. Other student groups sent supplies and workers to the Gulf region.\nThe survey found that the number of students active in religious groups has declined over the last several years.\nAccording to the survey, fewer than 80 percent of students attended religious services frequently in high school, down from more than 85 percent in 1997. It also found that more than 17 percent of students don't have a religious preference -- a figure that has more than doubled since 1978.\nAlso, fewer students reported drinking beer on a regular basis than before, according to the survey. In high school 43.4 percent of students said they drank beer at least occasionally, although more men said they drank beer than women -- 49.1 percent of men said they sometimes drank beer, while only 38.8 percent of women said they sometimes drank beer.\nPryor cautioned that a decrease in high school drinking is not indicative of a change in college culture, though.\n"(It is clear that) college drinking is not on the decline," he said.