UND survey shows decrease in binging

Although the drinking habits of UND students have been the topic of recent debate, statistics show that the percentage of students that binge drink has actually decreased over the past couple of years.

According to the 2006 North Dakota CORE Alcohol and Drug Survey, 54 percent of students reported binge drinking in the previous two weeks. Binge drinking is defined in the survey as consuming five or more drinks in one sitting.

In the 2004 study, 57 percent of students admitted to recent binge drinking.

"I think these figures show that we are doing something right on campus," said Sandi Luck, substance abuse awareness leader at Student Health Services.

The survey also reported that 33 percent of students at UND chose not to use alcohol in the last 30 days.

"National data indicates that drinking is a problem on all campuses," said Bob Boyd, vice president of student and outreach services. "I don't think that we are on the high or low end of the spectrum. We seem to have pretty average rates on the problem."

Student Body President Jay Fisher agreed that binge drinking wasn't specific to UND. "I think students are exposed to drinking in middle school and high school and bring the habits with them here," he said.

Programs to reduce drinking

Nightlife is the newest program created to reduce the drinking rates at UND.

Luck said that Nightlife has had a huge impact so far.

"We had a trial run last spring where we held Nightlife for four weekends, and it was very successful," she said. "It gives students on campus something to do on Friday and Saturday nights that doesn't involve alcohol, and that's a big issue. Everyone always complains about how there is nothing to do in Grand Forks, so we are working on that."

Luck said that the ADAPT program is another way to reach students and educate them about alcohol abuse.

ADAPT has students who are peer educators give presentations to various groups on campus about alcohol education.

"They give presentations to fraternities and sororities, residence halls and classes," Luck said. "This is effective because I think students would rather hear these things from their peers instead of people in authority positions. The peer educators can relate better to the students."

"Every college has to deal with the alcohol issue," Luck said. "We tried to find ways to connect with students, and I think we have done a great job of that with the peer educators."

The Commission on Student Use of Alcohol works on the policies of alcohol on campus and is trying to create a comprehensive alcohol prevention plan. The commission is made up of students, faculty and staff.

"They work to promote safety on campus and alcohol education," Fisher said. "This year I told them to start working on a long-term strategic plan with goals that we would be able to measure."

A new program that was looked at by Student Government on Sunday is Game Time.

"Game Time will pay the registration fees for intramural sports participants if they attend an alcohol education workshop," Luck said. "The workshops will focus on how alcohol will affect their bodies as athletes."

"This was done at Ohio State, and their program had great success," said Luck.

In the CORE survey, 80 percent of students said that the campus is concerned with alcohol use.

"Students understand that the campus is trying to work on the problem," Luck said. "Since I've been here, I have seen an increase in students that support the issue and are working toward a solution."

"We really want to create an environment that allows students to make the choices that are best for them," Luck added.

City Interest

According to Boyd, the city of Grand Forks has also become more interested in the topic of student drinking lately.

"We recently had a leadership summit with Student Government and city officials where they visited about issues that were important on campus," Boyd said. "The main thing that came out of the conversation was the issue of high risk drinking on campus."

"I'm not sure what will come out of this meeting yet, but I think it shows that there is renewed interest in the issue and there may be some partnerships with the university in the future to help deal with it," he said.