"Should I have another drink?"
Few questions seem so innocuous, yet few can be so dangerous.
Alcohol changes people. It can make a shy student come out of his shell, or it can make a student climb behind the wheel of a car and cause an accident.
The negative consequences of drinking are well-documented. Alcohol impairs mental judgment and physical dexterity. It can lead to temporary violence or permanent dependence. It can cause obesity, poor grades or depression.
But there are those who argue that alcohol has its merits, that it is a social catalyst and that it helps the tense and hard-working unwind.
No matter what students think about drinking, one thing is clear: alcohol remains a powerful presence on the Dartmouth campus.
Alcoholic students
Director of Health Services Jack Turco said some students "are clearly alcoholics" when they leave Dartmouth. This raises the question: Does Dartmouth's culture breed alcoholics more than other colleges?
Director of Health Resources Gabrielle Lucke said the Dartmouth Plan may aid the development of alcoholism in some students. When students leave Hanover for several consecutive terms, they are unable to monitor friends who may be in danger of drinking too much.
"When they come back six months later and see their friend, things can become a lot worse," Lucke said.
The use of alcohol causes antisocial behavior and depression, which "doesn't help problems, but only makes them worse," Turco said. He said that many students who leave campus due to academic difficulties may also have a problem with alcohol abuse.
Alcoholism is a long-term disease, but its first appearance often occurs during the college years, Turco said.
Dean of Student Life Holly Sateia said alcohol abuse begins in high school -- when students believe that it is fashionable to drink -- and the drinking habits carry over to college, where it is no longer needed for social acceptance.
While the problem of alcoholism on campus has hardly been solved, John Pryor, coordinator of evaluation and research for the dean's office, said Dartmouth has seen declines in the rates of alcohol consumption since 1994.
Last spring's CORE Institute survey of freshman drinking habits indicated that the number of College undergraduates taking part in frequent binge drinking was 29 percent, down from 34 percent in 1994.
Differing attitudes
Students and administrators cannot agree on certain issues, and alcohol use seems to be one of them.
With some exceptions, students take a more carefree attitude toward drinking, and they are more inclined to experiment. Administrators, on the other hand, take a more cautious approach, trying to discourage alcohol use.
Turco said conflicting notions of the benefits and consequences of alcohol are hardly unique to Dartmouth -- and that the College sees the same problems as society at large. "This is not unique to Dartmouth or to society," Turco said. "Alcohol has a profound influence on everyone."
While some students believe alcohol has merits, Turco said the administrations sees more of the disadvantages. He said the College has seen some alcohol-caused deaths in the past decade. Students have been killed in automotive accidents, by falling off of buildings and by drownings.
"Even though they have been relatively few, they have happened on this campus," Turco said. "And less serious accidents occur as a result, such as date rape and unplanned pregnancy."
Director of Health Resources Gabrielle Lucke stressed the link between alcohol use and sexual judgement. The nervous system is slowed by alcohol, which impairs judgment and affects students' sexual decisions, she said.
The 1996 CORE survey indicates that the number of students who face alcohol-related sexual activity is on the decline.
The survey shows that alcohol-induced sexual intercourse was more than halved from 1994 levels, reaching a low of nine percent in 1996. Other forms of alcohol-induced sexual activity dropped to 26 percent from 47 percent in 1994.
Pryor said the declines may be "a result of the health resource department doing programming on decision-making and how alcohol use can affect or impair that decision making."
Although alcohol-induced sexual encounters are declining, this hardly means that sexual abuse ceases to exist as a consequence of alcohol use.
Dean of the College Lee Pelton said virtually every sexual abuse case that comes to his attention or is brought before the Committee on Standards involves alcohol abuse, where "one or both of the students were intoxicated to the point of having judgment impaired."
He termed the issue of sexual abuse "the most devastating effect of alcohol."
In addition to causing academic and social problems, alcohol use can also lead to health problems, including liver deterioration, nerve problems resulting in numbness of the feet and legs, osteoporosis, neurological problems and nutritional problems resulting from deprivation.
And Lucke said there are second-hand effects of drinking, just as there are second-hand ramifications of smoking.
"Students coming in at three in the morning can make a lot of noise that affects the ability of others to sleep, learn and study," Lucke said.
Dean of the College Lee Pelton said "noise pollution" is still one of the problems caused by drunken students. Damage to residence halls caused by drunken students also used to be a problem, but damage has decreased substantially since the College banned alcohol in the residence halls in 1991.
He said it is the responsibility of the College to "make sure alcohol abuse doesn't pollute the environment ... and to make sure the effect is not so negative it affects the academics of others."
Pelton said the College needs to think of the effects of alcohol abuse on students who do not drink or who drink moderately.
"We have an obligation to them and they shouldn't be overlooked," Pelton said.
Students who are inclined to use alcohol have at least one adult ally -- Mathematics Lecturer John Finn, who says he thinks administrators exaggerate the negative effects of alcohol.
"The current tone of drinking reform on college campuses really has a note of hysteria," Finn said. "There is a horribly prudish attitude. There is a new Puritanism. It is a tempest in a teapot."
"That is not to say there are no students with drinking problems," he said. "But there is hysterical hyperbole going on."
The big picture
The bottom line is that students will continue to drink beer, wine and liquor. Despite efforts to reduce or eliminate alcohol, the desire of 17 to 22-year-olds to drink is unlikely to fade.
As Lucke plainly put it, alcohol is "the drug of choice for college students."
Lucke said many turn to alcohol because of the "these are my college years" mentality -- that is, they believe they can engage in alcohol use for four years, and they are confident they will stop drinking heavily upon graduation.
Even so, Lucke said each May she sees seniors who were confident they could cut down on their alcohol use by Commencement begin to question whether they are addicted.
According to Lucke, there are four basic kinds of alcohol users among the student body: recreational drinkers, socially dependent drinkers, psychologically dependent drinkers and physically dependent drinkers.
Students who have a drink or two on occasion are recreational drinkers, Lucke said, and because they are conscious of what is happening to them, they make low-risk choices.
Those who are psychologically dependent on alcohol think using alcohol makes them better people, Lucke said, and they feel that they cannot make it through the day without drinking.
And when students can no longer predict what will happen to them when they imbibe, they have reached the fourth stage -- physical dependence.
But Finn said the reports that alcoholism begins in college are exagerated.
"If you have a college student who frequently gets drunk, that's not necessarily some indication of an enduring alcohol problem," he said. "There are lots of people who outgrow that after college."
Relationships and social pressures
Despite possible negative consequences, some students believe that alcohol used in moderation has its benefits.
One freshman male who asked to remain anonymous said it is easier to become involved in relationships after a few drinks because the alcohol helps people feel more comfortable in social situations.
"It helps bring people out of their shells," he said. "It makes them less self-conscious."
He said many of his friendships are with drinking buddies. "I've met a lot of my friends at fraternity parties where there is alcohol," he said.
But Sateia said there is little reason to think alcohol promotes friendships or strong relationships.
"There is a perception that alcohol helps students to be more social," Sateia said. "But that is a false sense, because most people can't even remember what they said the next day. How does that help a relationship?"
Sateia said using alcohol is "a false way to establish a friendship."She said it is difficult to establish relationships in an environment where alcohol is included because many relationships are accelerated by alcohol's effects on judgment.
"Relationships become more physical more quickly, and because the groundwork for the relationship has not been established, the relationship is short-lived," Sateia said.
Some who do not drink said their abstention from alcohol has splintered friendships.
Michelyne Pinard '98, who does not drink, said her relationships with others have suffered because of alcohol.
"There are definitely people I was friends with my freshman year, and their thing was going out to drink," Pinard said. "I don't really go out with them as much because of that, even though we have a lot of similar interests."
One sophomore woman said she does not go out with many of her freshman friends because she felt like she had to "babysit them every time we went out."
"I felt like it was my duty to make sure that they made it home safely every night," she said. "I really got tired of having to deal with that, so I just don't go out with them anymore."
A major concern at the College is the notion that students do not want to drink but feel pressured to do so by their friends or by the very nature of the College's social scene.
Sateia cites a study conducted by Pryor for the Social Life Task Force, which says 14 to 15 percent of students feel it is important to have alcohol at a party themselves -- but 40 to 50 percent think it is important for their peers to have alcohol.
She said the survey demonstrates the need for students "to have an honest discussion about the place for alcohol on the campus." Many students, however, said they do not have problem finding acceptance for their non-drinking habits.
Jill Perring '99 said the College impressed her as having an unusually high level of alcohol use, but said her social options are not hampered because she does not drink.
She said her group of friends seeks activities that do not involve alcohol, and that abstaining is made easier because "you're protected by a group of friends who don't put more pressure on you."
Pinard said she believes the College offers a lot of social options -- from sporting events to movies at the Hopkins Center to dance clubs at the Collis Center.
"When I go out, I generally go to some of the dance parties, and that's an option I can choose to do without alcohol," Pinard said.
But other students, like Kelly Nelson '99, said the College does too little to provide social opportunities for students who do not drink. Nelson said her choices are limited because drinking "is the main social option on campus."
Michael New '97 said the College has been fair in applying its alcohol policies, and added that Dartmouth does not exaggerate the dangers of alcohol.
