The Miami Student Oldest university newspaper in the United States, established 1826
VOLUME 138 NO. 50
Friday, April 8, 2011
MIAMI UNIVERSITY OXFORD, OHIO
In 1942, The Miami Student reported the U.S. Navy had contracted with Miami University to use part of campus as a radio training facility. As part of the contract, 150 seamen would arrive in June for training.
AlcoholEdu impact hard to measure By Jenni Wiener Campus Editor
Miami University stands out in many ways, not all of them fodder for recruitment brochures: campus beauty, academics, and a culture of alcohol consumption. Results from the most recent National College Health Assessment revealed that 55 percent of Miami students have participated in binge drinking. According to a 2010 survey done by AlcoholEdu For College, 38 percent of first-year Miami students engage in high-risk drinking (four or more drinks for women, five or more drinks for men), which is 7 percent higher than the national average. To attempt to prevent these kinds of statistics, the university implemented AlcoholEdu in 2004 and required all first-year students to take it. Six years later, however, these survey results may raise questions about the effectiveness of this program. “I honestly don’t think AlcoholEdu works,” said senior Michelle Ensch. “It did not have any effect on me. I knew we had to do it to go to Miami, so I just did it to be done with it.” Junior Mark Fellows agreed. “I don’t think AlcoholEdu works because there is not really any follow up,” Fellows said. “Freshmen don’t pay much attention to it or take it seriously. It has not impacted my drinking habits. I actually completely forgot about it until now.” Ensch and Fellows are not the only students who felt this way. A first-year who would like to remain anonymous came to Miami as a novice to alcohol. She said that she had
had drinks a few times the summer before coming to college. “Taking the AlcoholEdu class definitely educated me on drinking,” she said. “However, it did not sway my personal decisions to drink. A two to five hour program is not going to stop me from going out and drinking.” President of Outside the Classroom, the organization that creates AlcoholEdu, Brandon Busteed, said he is optimistic for Miami and not very surprised by the data found about the students. “I would not be discouraged by the data you see from Miami,” Busteed said. “I work with hundreds of schools across the nation and your campus is making great progress against a very challenging issue. Ohio, as a state, is the No. 10 heaviest drinking state, in terms of overall consumption. So, as a school located in the state and recruiting many students from the state, it is not surprising to have slightly higher rates of binge drinking than schools nationally.” Miami’s Assistant Vice President of Student Affairs, Gail Walenga, said there is no single cause for the higher percentage of students who binge drink. She said, in general, students are reporting this is their behavior before they come to Miami. Other factors, however, include the traditions of the communities from which students are recruited, the role alcohol use has in their families, ethnicity and social class, perceptions that alcohol is part of the college experience and Green Beer Day, which is a unique Miami tradition that “conveys a particular message about drinking.”
JULIA ENGELBRECHT The Miami Student
Participation in AlcoholEdu is required of all Miami University students. Data from AlcoholEdu shows 38 percent of Miami students “high-risk” drink, 7 percent higher than the national average. Walenga went on to say that there is data about AlcoholEdu indicating that, by self-report, students engage in more protective behavior such as eating before drinking and alternating non-alcohol and alcohol drinks because of the program. “There has been a 3 percent decrease in self-reported high-risk behavior between 2007 and 2009,” Walenga said. Leslie Haxby-McNeill, assistant director of health education at Miami, agreed with Walenga in supporting the program. “The ‘college effect’ is when students come to college and begin drinking for the first time,” HaxbyMcNeill said. “AlcoholEdu helps
mitigate this effect.” There is not one particular program that will prevent students from high-risk drinking, according to Haxby-McNeill. Students need more than just an alcohol education class to prevent these behaviors. “AlcoholEdu is not a ‘silver bullet’ but it is the single most effective educational program ever developed to reduce the negative consequences of excessive drinking,” Busteed said. “There are now five published studies in peer-reviewed journal articles that demonstrate it reduces alcohol-related issues such as drunk driving, blacking out, getting into physical altercations and missing classes.”
Busteed continued by saying that he is aware the program doesn’t work for every single student all the time. For this reason, he said he is always trying to make the program better and more effective. A new version of AlcoholEdu is released every year and, as of 2010, utilized by more than 500 colleges and universities and one-third of all college first-year students. To pay for the programming, each student is billed $15 to his or her bursar bill, said Walenga. Haxby-McNeill said that the university will continue to implement new programs and reinforce its message of “legal, low-risk drinking” for all students.
Hockey seniors ink pro deals ASG passes Legacy bill, elects new cabinet members
The senior class for Miami University’s ice hockey team continues to soar to new heights. In the past week, three members of the five-person class have signed with NHL teams. Andy Miele signed an entry-level contract with the Phoenix Coyotes, reporting to Phoenix on Sunday. Miele has practiced with the team all week and was listed as a scratch in Phoenix’s Wednesday night game. In an interview earlier this week, Coyotes General Manager Don Maloney said how excited the organization was to land Miele. “He was the most sought after NCAA free agent in the nation and is a finalist for the Hobey Baker Award,” Maloney said. “We look forward to watching him develop and being a part of our organization for years to come.” Team co-captain Carter Camper signed an entry-level contract with the Boston Bruins on Wednesday. Camper reported to the teams American Hockey League affiliate team on Wednesday and will
play in the final three AHL contests this weekend. According to Miami University’s athletic department, Camper will return to campus following his debut weekend and will attend the Bruins’ rookie camp this summer. Fellow co-captain Pat Cannone also inked a professional contract this week. The announcement came late Thursday that Cannone expected to sign an entrylevel deal with the Ottawa Senators. Cannone told the Hamilton JournalNews he was heading to Ottawa’s affiliate team in Binghamton, N.Y., on Thursday and would likely be playing in Binghamton’s final regular-season games this weekend. Miele, Camper and Cannone were all undrafted free agents. Fellow senior Justin Vaive is a draft pick of the Anaheim Ducks organization. Miami’s senior class would also have included Tommy Wingels. Wingels left Miami after his junior year, signing a contract with the San Jose Sharks organization.
Shutdown to halt services Unless Congress can agree on an extension of negotiations or a budget, parts of the U.S. government will shut down at midnight Friday. Talks were scheduled to resume Thursday afternoon and would likely continue until the Friday deadline. Approximately 800,000 workers will be furloughed, but the shutdown would not impact all aspects of the government. The impacted portions include the IRS, military operations, State Department and Small Business Administration. The IRS would stop processing paper returns and the Small Business Administration would stop issuing loans. Members of the military would be paid through Friday, but after the shutdown, paychecks would stop. This would in-
clude those in combat zones. Troops are guaranteed back-pay. The National Institute of Health would also put all clinical trials on hold. The State Department would not issue passports. This could become critical for students looking to obtain a passport for summer abroad programs. National parks, museums and forests would all be closed in the event of a shutdown. Social Security checks, mail services, air traffic control, customs, food stamps and federal student aid would be unaffected. The last two major government shutdowns were in 1995 and 1996.
By Matt Levy
The programming, according to the bill, would affect incoming students beginning at their orientations, forming a Miami University’s Associated Stu- large part of their experiences at Miami. dent Government (ASG) had a very busy Ingram said Tuesday night there is an immeeting Tuesday night. In the three and a plication that more classes would include half hour long meeting, ASG passed two a Miami-experience focus and the bill bills, introduced another and voted in suggests programming via residence hall several new cabinet positions following bulletin boards, Resident Assistant prolast week’s student body election. gramming and assigned summer readKatie Weeks, president of Autism ings for first-years. Speaks chapter at Miami came in as a The Legacy bill will indeed have its guest to the meeting to ask own legacy continufor an emergency funding into the next school “We need to say ing request of $250. The year when student body ‘hey, this is what president-elect Nick Humoney would go to illuminate Pulley Tower with we’re doing, this ber takes office. Huber blue light in order to raise is how you can get built much of his camawareness for autism, acpaign around the Miami involved.’ That is Legacy initiative. cording to the submitted a huge program I funding request. ASG voted on two “We talked to physical want to initiate. ” new cabinet members facilities and President as well. In separate exHodge and they’re both ecutive voting sessions, JOHN STEFANSKI behind us,” Weeks said. John Stefanksi won the INCOMING ASG SECRETARY FOR PUBLIC RELATIONS According to the reSecretary for Public Request, blue lenses on the lations position and Tom existing uplights of PulKirkham was elected ley Tower would be installed temporar- President of the Student Senate. ily to achieve the lighting effect. Several Stefanksi, as Secretary for Public Relaschools have already participated by il- tions, said he would increase the campusluminating their own towers, including wide visibility of ASG. Penn State University, the University of “We cannot continue not to advertise North Carolina Chapel Hill and Purdue for ourselves,” Stefanksi said. “We need University. The request was unanimous- to say ‘hey, this is what we’re doing, this ly passed by ASG, which will be funded is how you can get involved.’ That is a with a cutback as part of the emergency huge program I want to initiate.” funding procedure. Kirkham, as president of student senASG also unanimously passed the Mi- ate, said he would run ASG’s meetings ami Legacy bill, which had been undergo- more efficiently and improve relations ing refinement from its authors for several with newer and older senators. weeks. The bill, the brainchild of Student ASG also accepted the resignaBody President Heath Ingram, intends tion of current President Pro Tempore to increase institutional pride among the Michael Sinko, who will be replaced Miami community and lead to a greater by senator Brendan Gillespie and apunderstanding of Miami’s history and its proved into office for next year senaculture through improved first and sec- tor Kevin Livingston as Secretary for ond-year programming. The bill seeks to Off-Campus Affairs. Residence Hall impact students from the earliest moment Association president Jessica Eastin their college careers through when they erly was also approved as Secretary for become alumni. On-Campus Affairs. Senior Staff Writer