Daily Helmsman The
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
The truth is intoxicating Helmsman Editor-in-Chief comments on tactics of Student Health Services
Vol. 79 No. 4
see page 3
Independent Student Newspaper of The University of Memphis
www.dailyhelmsman.com
Sign, sign, everywhere a sign...
Congressman Steve Cohen gives kudos to U of M
Informative alcohol signs on campus may try to persuade more and inform less BY CHELSEA BOOZER News Reporter
by Scott Carroll
According to several signs recently posted across campus, most University of Memphis students don’t drink alcohol during the week. However, these signs don’t display statistics or the fact that most students have imbibed within the past year. The signs read, “Most U of M students report they consume zero alcoholic drinks in an average week.” When asked their opinion on the signs, several students said they were unsure of its claim. Four of seven who passed the signs Tuesday afternoon said, “I don’t believe it.” Ashley Harris, junior English major, said the wording of the signs is vague. “‘Most’ is very broad. I can’t take the sign seriously,” she said. “There is no truth to it, no percentages, no statistics. What is an ‘average week?’” Two students said the sign reflects their group of friends and is believable. Misbah Razmi, management information system graduate student, said the sign is encouraging. “When I saw it, I believed it and I thought it was good,” she said. The sign’s message originates from 2011 Core Drug and Alcohol Survey data that
BY CHRISTOPHER WHITTEN News Reporter
A sign posted east of the Michael D. Rose Theatre by Student Health Services is one of many around campus with information on the alcohol use of U of M students. Some students say the signs are too ambiguous to be believable. shows 55.1 percent of the 659 University of Memphis students surveyed said they didn’t drink any alcoholic product in an average week. What isn’t reported are percentages collected of how many students do drink alcohol. The majority of the 2.9 percent of the student body that chose to submit survey answers admitted to drinking recently. Within 30 days before taking the sur-
vey, 59.6 percent of the survey takers said they drank some kind of alcoholic beverage, while 75.3 percent, or 496 of the 659 students, had in the past year. Furthermore, 46 percent said they were underage and drank in the past 30 days and 26.4 percent said they binge drank in the past two weeks. Jacqueline DeFouw, The U of M’s health educator, said the messages, which are a
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Kicking the habit
BY ERICA HORTON News Reporter
by Brian Wilson
UM resources enable students to quit unhealthy vices
University of Memphis Health Services offer the benefits of their very own Smoking Cessation Clinic to any interested students, for a price—sessions start around $50.
Booze, page 3
A little-known campus resource can help students can kick their smoking habit for good. For the past 15 years, The University of Memphis has been home to the Smoking Cessation Clinic, a training place for doctoral candidates pursuing degrees in clinical psychology to assist U of M students who want to quit smoking. Located in room 126 of the psychology building, the clinic offers one-on-one sessions by appointment only and costs $50 for four to six sessions. Jim Whelan, director of the Psychology Services Center, said the clinic helps people prepare to quit smoking by setting a date and teaches them how to deal with urges after they stop smoking. “Nicotine lasts three to five days in the body. The problem is the behavior that accompanies smoking,” Whelan said. “For example, some people always like to have a cigarette when they’re drinking coffee.” Whelan said compliment behavior, like having coffee with a cigarette, is an actual physical addiction. He said people attempting to quit smoking should break their connections to the routing behaviors associated with smoking. Kenneth Ward, professor and director of the School of Public Health, said for some
Congressman Steve Cohen announced last Wednesday that the National Science Foundation has approved The University of Memphis for two new research grants totaling over $1.5 million. “The University of Memphis is a commended research institution that consistently expands the field of knowledge in areas as diverse as education and seismology,” Cohen said via a press release on his official website. “These new federal funds will allow The University of Memphis to continue to make substantial advances in its many areas of research.” One grant for just under $1.1 million will go to a project called “Beyond Boredom: Modeling and Promoting Engagement during Complex Learning.” Dr. Sidney D’Mello, research assistant professor in the Institute for Intelligent Systems at U of M, said his project is working on the
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Cohen, page 5
college students, smoking is a way to socialize, which causes students not to categorize themselves as smokers or addicted to cigarettes. “And It’s not just cigarettes,” he said. “The new trendy way is hookah. I have come across people who are addicted, and it has the same negative health effects as cigarette smoking.” Ward said hookah has “quite a bit of nicotine” even though some people think that the “bad stuff” gets filtered in the water. “Nicotine is the primary chemical in tobacco. It’s a psychoactive drug that causes brain changes and it’s the addictive constituent,” he said. “What kills people is the other stuff in the cigarette, carcinogens and other chemicals like carbon monoxide, which blocks the uptake of oxygen.” U of M students who can’t afford the $50 fee, but still want to stop smoking, can contact the Student Health Services and schedule an appointment. Jacqueline DeFouw, health educator at Student Health Services, said those who want to stop smoking should consider counseling because smoking is a “very strong addiction,” and students often smoke for social reasons. “One thing I see on campus a lot is that students say they only smoke now as students, but plan to stop when they graduate,” she said.
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Services, page 3