Binge Drink In College example essay topic

Binge Drinking on America's Campuses On any Friday or Saturday night, the average college student is usually drinking, dancing and out having fun. They typically party with friends at fraternity parties, bars, and clubs; and unfortunately most of these students are underage, consuming excessive amounts of alcohol or "Binge Drinking". Binge drinking results in several detrimental outcomes, some are even fatal. Today this type of drinking is rampant on educational campuses everywhere. Large and small, urban and rural educational institutions are not left unaffected by this growing trend to binge drink.

Binge drinking is defined as 'the consumption of five or more drinks, in a row, on at least one occasion' (NCADI). Several surveys announce that about 1/3rd of high school seniors and 42 percent of college students binge drink on a regular basis (NCADI). Figures such as these are extremely upsetting because one expects institutions of higher learning to be the breeding ground for new leaders and innovative thinkers. Unfortunately, these statistics only make educational campuses appear, as if, everything is a party, much like National Lampoon's Animal House.

Animal House is a 1980's movie dedicated to displaying college life and the experience in a college fraternity; it constantly depicted students binge drinking. Harvard University's School of Public Health conducted a College Alcohol study, surveying students at more than 119 colleges. Of those surveyed, 44 percent admitted to having engaged in binge drinking at least once in the two weeks prior to the survey (Booze News). Researchers discovered that white students, age 23 or younger, and members of a fraternity or sorority, on average are more likely to binge drink (Booze News). They also noted that students who were binge drinkers in high school, were three times more likely to binge drink in college (Booze News).

'The percentage of students who are binge drinkers is nearly uniform from freshman year to senior year, and over half of the binge drinkers were frequent binge drinkers' (Booze News). Binge drinking has been associated with several alcohol-related problems. The Harvard survey also notes that 'a higher percentage of binge drinkers than non-binge drinkers reported having experienced alcohol-related problems, since the beginning of the school year' (Booze News). Frequent binge drinkers are 22 times more likely than non-binge drinkers to have: missed class; fallen behind in school work; engaged in unplanned sexual activity; not used protection when having sex; damaged property; gotten in trouble with campus police; been hurt or injured; driven a car after drinking; and used other drugs (Booze News). There are countless ways to binge drink. The most common way is to just drink, and drink, and drink some more until the person either regurgitates the alcohol, "passes out", or just stops drinking.

Peer pressure to binge drink is extremely influential and powerful in pushing students to binge. There are many different ways to binge drink. One way is to play drinking card games. First, there is a card game called "Asshole", in which the dealer deals the deck of cards out to any number of people. The object of this game is to get rid of all your cards first in order from 2 to Ace. The first person to be rid of all his / her cards is "president" in the next game; the last person to get rid of his / her cards is the "Asshole".

In the second game, the "president" can make anyone in the game drink, as many times as he / she wants. Also, anyone in the game who is not the "Asshole" may tell the "Asshole" to drink at anytime. There are numerous other card games utilized to binge drink. This list includes games such as: 31, Kings, F You Pyramid, and High-Low.

Another way to binge drinking is the game called "Beer Pong". It is played on a Ping-Pong table, with 6 medium sized cups at each end filled about 1/3rd with beer and set up like bowling pins. There are two teams of two people each. The object is to get the Ping-Pong ball into the cups at each other's end of the table, by either throwing or bouncing them into the cups.

If a ball lands in a cup, the team whose cup has the ball must drink the beer in the cup. The team who gets their opponents to finish all the cups of beer in front of them first wins, and plays until they lose to other opponents. The losers must drink all of their cups and in addition must drink all the cups left over from the winning team. There is also the ever-popular "Keg Stand". The "Keg Stand" is extremely popular at parties and happens just about every time there is a keg at a party. The "Keg Stand" occurs when a person is picked up by his / her legs and has them put above his / her head, so that they are in a handstand position above the keg.

The hose of the keg is then placed in his / her mouth, then he / she must drink for as long as he / she can, while the crowd around the keg counts off how long he / she drinks. There is also the "Shotgun" and / or "BeerBong". These are both ways of drinking beer in a very fast manner. The "Shotgun" happens when a beer is turned on its side; a hole is then poked near the bottom of the can and opened to a little bit bigger than the size of a nickel. The drinker then puts his / her mouth on the hole and sucks till it is very tight. Finally, the beer is turned right side up, the top is opened, and the beer is shot down the drinker's mouth and throat hence the name "Shotgun".

The "BeerBong" is another party favorite and is similar to the "shotgun". Instead of a can being used, a funnel and hose are used. The hose is bent upwards so that the end of the hose used to drink out of is higher than the funnel; beer is then poured into the funnel. Finally, the drinker puts his / her mouth around the end of the hose, and lifts the funnel above his / her head and drinks the beer as fast as he / she can. The "BeerBong" is a party favorite across the nation, or in my experience at least across University and College campuses in Virginia. Another game is the competitive "Case Race".

A "Case Race" can range from 2 to any number of participants. The rules are very simple; each participant has his / her own case of beer. Everyone starts at the same time and the first person or group to finish the case wins. "Case Races" can also be team oriented. Another bingeing game is "Power Hour". Now many people are fooled by the amount of alcohol involved in the "Power Hour", but from personal experience there is more than enough alcohol involved.

A "Power Hour" is when 1 or more people have one shot glass each, and one person has a stopwatch or a regular watch. Each person participating in the "Power Hour" takes a shot of beer, every minute, for an hour. Person ally the first 30 minutes are fine, but when the second half of the hour comes, each minute seems to go by faster and faster and before you know it, you are totally inebriated. Just think, a human liver can only breakdown 1 beer per hour, and that depends on an individuals size and health. Finally, there is the ever so dangerous "Bar Crawl". The "Bar Crawl" is a right of passage on many college campuses for those who turn 21 years old.

On the day of the person's 21st birthday, that person goes barhopping and during the night has 21 shots of alcohol before the night is over; usually each shot is bought by a friend. On some college campuses the "Bar Crawler" is given a paddle before they go barhopping, and as they take each shot, the shot name, date, and time is written on the paddle. When the shot is finished the "Bar Crawler" must sign the paddle under the name of the shot; unfortunately many "Bar Crawlers" can not tell you about their experience because they were too inebriated to remember what happened. Yes, these drinking games sound like a lot of fun, and actually are from my experience, but binge drinking and playing these games while not knowing when to stop can have dangerous, and sometimes fatal results. Acute Alcohol Intoxication, or Alcohol Poisoning, occurs when, "a large amount of alcohol is ingested at one time" (Alcohol and Drug Education, Univ. of Notre Dame).

After the large quantity of alcohol is consumed, "The alcohol starts to slow body functions, including heart rate, blood pressure, and breathing. When alcohol significantly depresses these vital centers, unconsciousness results, this is one step away from coma and possible death" (Alcohol and Drug Education, Univ. of Notre Dame). Popular symptoms of alcohol poisoning include, "vomiting, passing out, difficulty to be awakened, and slow, shallow breathing" (Alcohol and Drug Education, Univ. of Notre Dame). There have been numerous fatalities recorded as a result of binge drinking. For example, at Old Dominion University in Virginia, a student pledging a fraternity died from binge drinking and aspirating his own regurgitation (Associated Press, CNN).

Another student at Colgate University, after a night of binge drinking, crashed into a tree killing four of his peers; now he is facing four years in prison (Associated Press, CNN). On Saturday, November 11, 2000 Byung Soo Kim, a student at the University of Michigan, celebrated his 21st birthday by trying to take 21 shots (Buurma, Christine). Unfortunately, shortly after taking his 20th shot in 10 minutes, Kim passed out and later stopped breathing (Buurma, Christine). His friends called 911 and Kim was resuscitated and admitted into the intensive care unit.

Two days later, Monday November 13, 2000, Byung Soo Kim passed away (Buurma, Christine). In September of 1997, Scott Krueger, a student at the prestigious MIT, was found in a fraternity basement unconscious and in a coma, with a blood alcohol level of 0.4; unfortunately 3 days later Scott passed away (Durand, ABC News). As of now, colleges and universities, government agencies (federal, state, and local), and numerous other organizations are trying to find ways to cut down on binge drinking. One example, is at the University of North Carolina and Cornell University, "with a first-of-its-kind research and advocacy communications project to reduce binge drinking among college students and improve the quality of life on its college campuses" (Center for Science in the Public Interest). The Park Foundation funded the project with a $570,000 grant, which began in the fall of 1998, "aimed to generate a hard-hitting, attention-grabbing, potentially humorous and highly visible media campaign reaching three classes of incoming first-year students" (CSPI).

"Working closely with students, faculty, administration, fraternities and sororities, and members of the surrounding communities, the project is focusing on changing the student cultures that encourage binge drinking" (CSPI). Another example is at the University of Colorado at Boulder. In the fall of 1996, the University banned the sale of alcohol at all of the University's home football games (JACH). A survey conducted by Carol A. Bormann and Michael H. Stone indicated that the implementation of the alcohol ban at home football games worked. They noted dramatic decreases in negative behavior at football games such as: arrests, assaults, ejection's from the stadium, and student referrals to the judicial affairs office following the ban (JACH). They also found that, even though, there was some negative attitudes toward the ban from students and season ticket holders, it did not negatively affect their attendance to the football games (JACH).

Accept it or not, binge drinking is an enormous problem facing our teenagers and college students all across the nation. As a college student, I have experienced binge drinking first hand and know of its consequences. Unfortunately many college students, especially the freshman, do not. Devoting considerable time and money to alcohol awareness programs may not be a challenge many colleges want to face, however, it is something they need to do to ensure long term success and wellness for a large portion of their student population.

Bibliography

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web Bormann, Carol A. and Stone, Michael H. "The Effects of Eliminating Alcohol in a College Stadium: The Folsom Field Beer Ban (University of Colorado at Boulder)". Journal of American College Health, Sept 2001 vs.
50 i 2 p 81. Brick, John. "Alcohol Poisoning". A publication of Intoxikon International. AOL Online. web Christine. "U. Michigan student's death shows risk of binge drinking". The Cavalier Daily Online Edition. November 16, 2000.
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