Lose the Booze

In part one of this three-week series about on-campus alcohol consumption, The Volante focuses on statistics surrounding underage drinking in relation to the University of South Dakota.

Within the first week of the fall semester at the University of South Dakota, four parties were busted by the Vermillion Police Department for underage drinking, said Police Chief Matt Betzen.

Underage drinking is not a new issue at USD. In 2011 there were 236 disciplinary referrals for underage drinking and 22 arrests according to the USD annual Jeanne Clery Report put out by USD. In order to keep up with on and off-campus underage drinking both the University Police Department and the VPD have been working to offset the trend according to Betzen.

“Underage drinking is a problem nationwide but is especially reflected in a college like situation,” Betzen said.

To help prevent alcohol from being sold to minors the VPD does an annual compliance check every year of alcohol license holders. According to the VPD’s yearly report last year out of the 42 license holders in Vermillion tested, 15 of them failed to make sure the buyer was over the age of 21.

According to Betzen, VPD has been working with businesses to educate their employees on how to better identify minors.  Alcohol license holders that do sell to minors can face various consequences if caught, which include fines and having their alcohol licenses revoked.

Another aspect of underage drinking is house parties. To address this scenario VPD has adopted a “red-tag system.” The red-tag system uses the aggressive nuisance city ordinance to discourage underage drinking.

If VPD comes to a house party because of a noise or nuisance complaint and underage drinkers are found on the premise, the owners of that property can be held responsible for allowing an environment conducive to crime. The owners can face fines and if it is a repeat offense, they can even be evicted.

If an underage drinker is caught by VPD, they can face a minor in possession charge. This is classified as a Class B misdemeanor, which goes on an individual’s permanent criminal record. It also comes with a citation fine of $114. One can remove court records from the internet with help from onlinereputation.com.

Alongside VPD, the UPD is also hard at work preventing underage drinking occurring on the USD campus according to UPD Lt. George Rice.

“We see our share of drinking here, we’re not blind to it,” Rice said.

One of the underage drinking issues UPD typically deals with is drinking in the dorms. Rice said most of their calls come from North Complex, simply because that is where the younger students are housed.

Another aspect UPD deals with is drinking at the tailgating events, before games. To prevent underage drinking at tailgating events UPD officers continuously patrol the tailgating area, checking people who are consuming alcohol driver’s licenses to make sure they are legally able to drink.

“Underage drinking is an issue, and it’s a problem, but it’s no different than what any other college is facing,” said Rice.

UPD has extra responsibilities separate from VPD. According to Rice, if a minor is caught in possession of alcohol by UPD, the student can be issued a citation, as they would normally off campus, but can also be referred to Student’s Rights and Responsibilities. Student’s Rights and Responsibilities can proceed to put the student on academic probation, call the student’s parents or send the student to the on campus counseling center.

The Student Counseling Center is an accredited drug and alcohol treatment center which is located across the street from the Arts and Sciences building in Cook House.

At the center, students can have a drug and alcohol assessment and enter into a treatment plan, said Deborah Brockberg, the coordinator of the mental health services staff.

“We want to change student’s perception on drinking in general,” she said.

Brockberg said most students think their fellow students drink more than they actually do.

In order to change students’ perceptions on underage drinking, Lauren Schuur, the coordinator of prevention services, said the Student Counseling Center has partnered with the Vermillion Prevention Coalition.

Schuur said the aim of the coalition is to “reduce binge drinking and prepare young adults to make informed decisions about their wellness.”

Schuur has many ideas on how to achieve this goal. She hopes to do more educational events focusing on making healthy choices when it comes to drinking.

For the first semester of school this year the coalition will put on a non-alcoholic tailgate. Next semester they hope to sponsor a 5k run and bring in a guest speaker to speak about the dangers of underage drinking.

“It’s a way to get students involved more, especially in a non-drinking environment,” said Schuur.

Both Schuur and Brockberg admit underage drinking is an issue, but are quick to point out many colleges face the same issue across the country.

They said e-CHUG, a confidential survey/assessment taken every year by students across the nation supports the claim that USD is not that bad when it comes to drinking.

The assessment asks students how much they drink, how often and if they feel like they have a drinking problem. It then asks students to guess how much their fellow students drink per week.

After submitting their answers students see their results compared to other students  and can see if their guesses were right.

“When you look at USD’s statistics compared to the national average statistics, they’re lower than the national average,” said Schuur.

First year Garrett Bankston said he is not concerned about underage drinking.

“For USD, (students) have the same amount of parties as other colleges. It’s about the same as at any other college,” he said.

Regarding his thoughts on how UPD deals with underage drinkers, Bankston praised the department and their handling of certain situations.