DRINKING REGARDED AS BIG PROBLEM ON CAMPUSES

For many Southeast Missouri State University students, drinking is a major pastime.

That's a concern to Phyllis Schnell. As coordinator of substance abuse prevention and education at Southeast, Schnell wages a seemingly endless battle against alcohol abuse.

The problem manifests itself in everything from beer parties to drinking games.

Too often male and female students meet each other with "beer goggles" on, a term Schnell uses to refer to a person's drunken state of mind.

This week is Alcohol Awareness Week at Southeast. The observance features a number of activities designed to alert students to the dangers of alcohol abuse.

A university survey of 313 Southeast students, primarily freshmen, in the spring of 1991 focused on the issue of drinking.

"Fifty-three percent didn't see anything wrong with playing drinking games, which is basically overdosing on alcohol," said Schnell, who views such a statistic with alarm.

"Because of this study I really target chugging and beer bonging," she said.

In beer bonging, a tube is placed down a person's throat and beer is poured through a funnel. That raises an individual's blood-alcohol level dangerously fast, she said.

"We have had students who have ended up in an emergency room practically in a coma," said Schnell.

Forty-six percent of the students said they had been on a drinking binge (a minimum of five drinks in a row) at least once within the two weeks prior to when the survey was taken.

"Twenty-nine percent felt it was okay to get drunk in public; 56 percent said it was okay to get drunk in private; and another 50 percent said getting drunk at a party or social event was okay," said Schnell.

Forty-five percent said that drinking alcohol had caused them to drive unsafely.

"Twelve percent of the students admitted that drinking caused them to miss class at least once a week. And I think that is low," said Schnell.

One of this week's alcohol awareness programs focuses on AIDS and alcohol.

Schnell said that program was prompted by the fact that 41 percent of students reported that under the influence of alcohol or drugs they engaged in sexual activity with individuals with whom they otherwise would not have had sex.

Student drinking is commonplace on college campuses nationwide, she said. "If you stacked all the beer cans end to end, in a year it would go beyond the moon."

For most college students, drinking means beer, said Schnell. "Beer is the big thing because it is affordable.

"For some reason, they think it is soft alcohol, that it's not a big deal to drink a six-pack or a 12-pack," said Schnell, who is entering her third year as coordinator of substance abuse prevention.

Drinking is a form of entertainment to many college students, she said. "It's cheaper than going to the movies. It is cheaper than going to a rock concert. It is the cheapest form of entertainment that they can do."

Many students would rather not drink, but they get caught up in the social scene and find it difficult to resist the "multimillion dollar" advertising by the alcohol industry, said Schnell.

"They really do target the college students," she said. In the advertising, "it is always the young and the beautiful that are drinking; they never show the poor student that is bloated from over use ... or in the hospital.

"They really do glamorize it," said Schnell.

More students now make use of designated drivers when they go out to party, Schnell believes.

"I think designated drivers are important," she said. But she added that even with designated drivers it's important to realize that it's not all right "for everybody else to get plastered."

The problem with "No When to Say When" and similar messages, said Schnell, is that "we are still sending a drinking message.

"I would like to focus more on positive programming, alternatives to drinking," she said.

Students and people in general drink because "it's a great social lubricant," said Schnell.

Students see it as a way to release their inhibitions, she said.

The American Medical Association says one should drink no more than one drink an hour, and never more than three drinks in one sitting, pointed out Schnell.

Too much alcohol damages your body, she said. "It's working on your heart; it's working on your liver; it's working on your organs."

She said many of the students she deals with are young and on their own for the first time. "I feel a need to protect them."