Incoming LSU freshmen drinking habits caused the spike in last year’s self-reported heavy drinking survey processed by the Harvard School of Public Health.
The Harvard School of Public Health evaluates the LSU Campus/Community Coalition for Change, an organization that works to combat high-risk drinking on campus and throughout the community. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation started the coalition five years ago after the 1997 alcohol-related death of Benjamin Wynne, a Sigma Alpha Epsilon pledge.
The foundation renewed the CCCC’s contract, giving the organization $468,000 and another four years on campus as of Sept. 1.
CCCC Executive Director Nancy Mathews said the reported jump from 49 to 58 percent in heavy drinking in the spring 2002 Harvard study is because of a rise in incoming freshmen and their drinking habits. The statistics show that incoming freshmen are self-reporting more frequent drinking than in previous years, Mathews said.
“The incoming freshmen were drinking considerably more than they had been in previous years,” Mathews said. “High school kids are drinking to excess younger and younger and throwing off the average.”
Students have their own theories why so many freshmen drink.
Nathan Tallo, a kinesiology sophomore, said freedom from parents has something to do with excessive drinking.
“For freshmen it’s their first year away from their parents, and they just go nuts,” Tallo said.
Kimberley Dominique, a psychology senior, said the social world dictates how young students act.
“Drinking lets freshmen lose their inhibitions and make friends,” Dominique said.
For Doug Schultz, an accounting sophomore, money is the factor.
“I went out five to six times a week as a freshman,” Schultz said. “I go out three times a week now because I need to save the money.”
Students said another reason why freshmen seem to drink more than other students is because upperclassmen have been there before.
“I tended to drink more as an incoming freshman, but soon after that it tapered off,” Dominique said. “It just got old, and I got tired of drinking to the excess and feeling awful.”
The CCCC’s goal for the next four years will change from a concentration on on-campus policy, to a focus on the community outside of campus, Mathews said. The coalition wants to make bars around campus, where most students socialize and drink, safer.
Mathews said another community goal is to make alcohol policy known to students and people around the community. The policy changes within the Baton Rouge community will help make the environment safer for all.
“You can never change things if you just focus on the students here and now,” Mathews said. “We need to make sure the environment is supportive of a more healthful campus and community.”
The CCCC already has been successful in changing policies on campus, such as lowering the campus alcohol limit policy and changing the stadium into an alcohol-free zone.
For the future, Mathews said the CCCC will use the environmental management model, a complex process that strives to form a healthful community encouraging less alcohol toward the entire community.