Educating about alcohol

As soon as freshmen set foot on campus, they are inundated with a flood of mandatory activities, speakers and flyers. Parents insist on a final goodbye dinner, while RCAs insist on a mandatory fire safety presentation. College masters, deans of various departments and professors from all fields all take their turn, and time, welcoming the new class to campus.

While it is rather pleasant to make freshmen feel welcome and wanted, it is more important to fully address the two major issues that few have encountered or fully understood prior to coming to college: alcohol and sexual assault.

Currently, a high percentage of freshmen register and take the online alcohol.edu course prior to their arrival. But only a low percentage of those people actually retain information supposedly learned from that course and truly comprehend the effects of alcohol in a college setting. Some students turn the interactive presentation portions of alcohol.edu into opportunities to chat with friends on AIM or to play with their dog. The final test requires only a short-term memorization of facts and numbers; it does not leave a strong impression on test-takers.

The adverse effects of alcohol need to be more effectively explained to freshmen, lest they run into dangerous situations where such effects are personally experienced. While we all know that drinking is a large and almost inevitable part of many college students' lives, few of us actually know when to stop a friend from taking one last shot or when to stop offering food and water to a drunkenly vomiting classmate.

Currently, adults and RCAs beat the mantra "When in doubt, McCosh" into freshmen's heads. They are not, however, required to beat in specific details. In addition to dispelling the myths of McCosh and setting essential ground rules, all RCAs should be required to tell freshmen explicit symptoms of alcohol poisoning and specific instructions on how to help an intoxicated friend.

The University is doing a better job when it comes to sexual abuse education. The repeated success of "Sex on a Saturday Night" shows that methods other than online courses and large lecture hall presentations can simultaneously entertain and educate students about weighty matters. Perhaps a similar approach could be used to bolster alcohol education.

By the end of freshman orientation, freshmen should be ready to begin the school year with more than repeated welcomes and general offers of advice echoing in their heads. They should begin with a full understanding of the potentially detrimental effects of alcohol and exactly what to do should they encounter those effects.