Report: 45 percent of Indiana college students binge drink

A recent survey of 7,600 Indiana college students reported that 45 percent of those questioned said they participated in binge drinking while in college, which the report defined as consuming five or more drinks for a male and four or more drinks for a female in a two-hour period. \nThis number is 2 percent below the national average but is still too high, according to a report by the Indiana Coalition to Reduce Underage Drinking.\nThe study comes on the heels of a Welcome Week at IU that saw several students hospitalized with dangerously high blood alcohol levels. Fourteen students were hospitalized between Aug. 23 and 27, according to an Aug. 28, 2006, Indiana Daily Student article.\nIU Dean of Students Richard McKaig said this trend, which was reinforced by the study, was troubling. McKaig said that he was concerned not just with the consumption of alcohol on campus, but also with the health consequences of such activities. \n"(The incidents) really are a concern because I think our primary concern ought to be the health and safety of college students," McKaig said. \nThe study offered supporting evidence to McKaig's concerns about the consequences of drinking. The study reported that 35 percent of students said the abuse of drugs or alcohol led to some kind of public misconduct, and 24 percent admitted to driving under the influence. \nThe study also reported that 25 percent of responders experienced emotional problems as a result of their drinking. Another 36 percent said they did something they later wished they had not done. \nMcKaig said he believed the problem wasn't just the lack of awareness about the consequences of drinking. He felt like students came to the University with plenty of education on the subject but felt that they didn't know how to handle the increased level of freedom college offers them.\n"Certainly information plays a role at some point in the process of helping people to make good decisions about alcohol ... (but) we really think it's more than education that's missing," McKaig said. \nFreshman Avi Zimmerman said he didn't receive a lot of alcohol and drug education in school outside of health class and driver education. However, he also said he believed it would be hard for the University to run mandatory awareness classes.\n"They can offer it, but ... I know I hardly ever went to any program by the University," Zimmerman said. "I feel like it would take a lot of work to try and force that on students, and if you made it optional, nobody would show up."\nIU Police Department Captain Jerry Minger also said he didn't think IU students were more or less educated about alcohol and drug awareness coming to college. Minger pointed out that the incidents should not be used to generalize the behavior the entire student body,\n"I don't think they're becoming less aware," Minger said. "I would hate to say that the general student population has become any specific way."\nMinger also said "several" students arrested or hospitalized during Welcome Week were not first-time offenders.\nMinger described the increase in "critical incidents," or incidents where students had to be hospitalized, as a "spike." However, Minger said he believed the rise in hospitalizations did not signify a major trend. Rather, he said he thought this year was more of an aberration and pointed out that arrests for alcohol related incidents were down from previous years. \nBoth McKaig and Minger said many of the incidents in which students had to be taken to the hospital involved drinking games where several shots were taken over short periods of time. McKaig said he felt the prevalence of binge-drinking activities, such as drinking games, is supported by their own observations and study's conclusions. \nAdditionally, McKaig and Minger both agreed they did not think more education would actively deter more critical incidents. Instead, McKaig said he believed awareness and acting responsibly could solve the issue more effectively. \nHe asked friends to watch out for one another and exercise responsibility.\n"Clearly one of the things that I wanted to emphasize ... (is) friends watching out for friends," McKaig said. "Friends can also help people stop when they are drinking at dangerous levels"