Proposal

Underage Drinking on College Campuses

How accepted is underage drinking in the DU community and in universities across the United States? Are the laws outdated and causing more harm than good?

        The 21 drinking age has always been a topic for debate in America since it was first placed in 1984. Now in 2015 the support to lower the drinking age has only grown stronger, for instance even our current president supports lowering the drinking age. This law seems no more irrelevant than on college campuses. It’s a staple of American college kids to see them chugging beer from red solo cups and various beer bong apparatus’. So it only begs the question why do we have this law?

        In this study I plan to look at the drinking culture at the University of Denver. In order to do this I want to look at aspects of drinking culture like what percentage of kids are underagedrinking, how popular it is for students to have fake ID’s. What is the ability for underage drinkers to  acquire alcohol. What do all different members of the DU community feel about the drinking culture here. What do students view underage drinking as verses professors and professional staff on campus think about it; will staffs view differ that greatly from the students?

In order to gather solid supportive data and understand of this question I plan on interviewing multiple groups on campus. Student Life and Campus Police would be able to offer great insight into this topic as they witness first hand underage drinking on campus. I plan to pick at them and find out how much they actually stand by what they are doing based on the legal drinking age. Other groups I’d like to interview on campus would definitely be people in greek life as they are the most targeted students on campus as far as drinking goes. Also would love to get non-affiliated students views such as officers in Alpine Club and student athletes. It will be interesting to see the comparison between groups and if it really differs from among different groups on campus.

In my survey which will be a random sample of students I want to examine how comfortable students are with drinking and if they feel it is okay for underage kids to be drinking within DU community. I want to see how much the average student cares about underage drinking and how much they abide but the laws of the state and school.

I also plan to look at faculty and see how they view the underage group students who drink. What do they think of the high level of underage drinking in college, do they care if there students are breaking the law every weekend if they’re still getting their work done? Are they viewing it as a problem or a social norm.

Research Report

The topic for my research revolves around underage drinking on college campuses, which has had a plethora of research that has been done on the matter. The matter is so controversial because while most kids go to college around the age of 18 the legal drinking age across the country is 21… so this must entail that kids don’t drink in college because it’s illegal. However the lines are actually very blurred and underage drinking rates especially at college are extremely high thus leading to researching this particular aspect of American culture.

        First I got some background research on the legal drinking age in the country to have a better understanding of how we ended up where we are today. A lot of the momentum to lower the drinking age in America actually was as a result of the Vietnam War. Protests over the war lead to a lot of young americans pushing to lower the national voting age to 18 with the argument, “If a boy is old enough to fight for his country, why isn’t he old enough to vote?” This eventually led to the adaptation of the slogan that is commonly used today, “If you’re old enough to fight and die for your country, why can’t you order a drink?” (Main 35).  In the late 60’s and early 70’s this momentum to lower the drinking age picked up lots of support after the voting age was successfully lowered. Between 1970 and 1976 29 states lowered their drinking age below 21 however the results were horribly negative. Traffic deaths in young teens skyrocketed due to a massive increase in drunk driving amongst young adults. This lead almost instantly for calls to revoke the new lower drinking age and the leaders of the charge were a group still popular today M.A.D.D. (Mothers against drunk driving). This group was assembled by a mother of a young teenage Californian girl Cari Lightner who was struck by a drunk driver and killed on the way to a carnival (Main 35)  This grassroots movement was then started and instantly picked up local, state and eventually federal support and in 1984 Congress passed the Uniform Drinking Age Act which required all states to raise the age to 21 for any kind of alcohol consumption. While states can still technically lower their drinking age the federal government says they will withhold highway funding if any state decides to do so. This is a very aggressive clause from the federal government and many would argue slightly unconstitutional because it takes away the power of states rights which was one of the founding principles of our country.

        I think this background information has a very grandeur open look on the beginnings of our rather high drinking age. We are one of 12 countries in the world that have a drinking age of 21 or older in every other country in the world where drinking is legal it is below that. 60% of countries in the world the drinking age is either 18 or 19 and in 21% of countries it is even lower than that. So that means that an 18 year old, the average age of a first year college undergrad, can drink in 81% of countries in the world which is staggering (“Minimum Legal Drinking Age”, 2015). As someone who hates this law and has always pondered why it is so high. Not much of it is closely related to the topic but I feel it is solid to open with to help the reader get a better overview of the history of this law. Also possible to explore how the much stricter DUI laws today might make the main reason the age was raised again to be an irrelevant argument in 2015. Might be a good question to explore in interviews and the other primary research aspects of this paper.

Also in this article by Carla T. Main who mostly writes on law and society in America she talks explicitly about the drinking on college campuses and how she sees the high drinking age as a danger causing binge drinking and various other dangerous drinking habits (p.36-37). But it is relatively brief which is only weakness of this article for my application to my research. She is a scholarly writer and the article is peer reviewed, which makes it a very reliable article to extract information from.

The next article I found to be useful in my research on the topic is by a group of physiatrists. This article focuses mainly on high risk drinking behaviors college students partake in and better way to educate students and deal with the issue that so many of them confront because of drinking. The article sites many scholarly sources such as the Harvard School of Public Health to better break down the dangerous behaviors many college students are participating concerning drinking. Upon surveying students at Harvard two separate times, 4 years apart, they found that the same amount of students said they binge drink actually increased, 44% in 1993 and 53% in 1997. Why exactly is not know but it's only an indication of how underage drinking is only becoming easier for students. This information can be very vital in breaking down for the reader an overview of binge drinking amongst students even at colleges prestigious as Harvard. However downsides of this article is that the information is very objective and not really analyzed like in the first article by Carla T. Main. Nevertheless the medical perspective on the situation adds good depth to the secondary research presented in the paper.  

Perhaps one of the best articles I found for the topic is called “AN EXAMINATION OF UNDERAGE DRINKING IN A SAMPLE OF PRIVATE UNIVERSITY STUDENTS.” Written by grad students it takes a very explicit look at how underage drinking affects students specifically at private universities. My focus being DU a small private university makes the information and findings extremely relatable for my topic in writing. Downfalls of the article include that fact that it is very anti-drinking and seemingly wants to find ways to eliminate or drastically lower the amount of underage drinking on college campuses. Nevertheless it does conclude that students at these smaller private universities do better balancing drinking and school due to small classes, required attention, and teacher attention.

There are a few articles I found about how to discipline kids who have been caught underage drinking and how to prevent it from even happening in the first place. The prevention techniques I found to be a bit extreme, such as no one with a record of serving minors or caught drinking while they were minors should be allowed to buy kegs or kicking everyone not over 21 out of restaurant bars at 9pm. These methods I found to be very dated and look in a very backwards direction. Nevertheless it is good to have opposite ends of the spectrum to keep my findings diverse. However what I did find useful was the arguments behind how schools and authorities deal with underage drinking. This is extremely interesting to me because of how poorly I think the school handles underage drinking in the student body. Having been on the backend of them I find DU’s ways in particular very crude and unfair particularly their detox policy which is that any student campus that blows above the legal limit get sent to the city of Denver’s detox facility downtown. This is not only completely unnecessary it costs a lot of money for students and their families. Looking deeper into the dealing with students who have incidents could be essential in answering how acceptable the administrations feel underage drinking. Also good to look at it from a government point of view and break down how they deal with underage drinking and if it’s effective or rather a joke (personally I side on the joke side). Nevertheless it also poses great questions for the primary research aspect to get a gauge on how the community feels underage drinking is dealt with by the school and state.

I found many articles pertaining to the parental aspect of drinking and how education or lack thereof affects students when they eventually go off to college. Many studies showed parents who facilitated drinking to their underage kids made them less at risk for risky behavior when they were drinking on their own with friends. This is a critical part of the 21 drinking age debate because many kids parents have been serving them alcohol for sometime before they turn 21. Coming from an Italian family I was always offered red wine to compliment my dinner, a common cultural thing but illegal none the less. While the arguments and data are strong I feel they are not as applicable to what I am trying to answer in paper because I’m trying to focus on students while they are at college. No matter what student parent relationships will vary extremely no matter what school you attended so I feel the parental argument is a bit too insecure to use in the paper.  

I feel what’s most missing from my research right now is public opinion on underage drinking in colleges. How bad does the American public as well as universities view this matter since it is so prevalent the law seems basically irrelevant. So perhaps change my keyword within my searches to find different types of articles pertaining to opinion on underage drinking and the laws that make so many Americans who drink do it illegally. Possibly also finding some sort of connection between times of prohibition and the similarities it has with the drinking laws now.

Where I saw a lot of overlap in the research was the matter of binge drinking. Some articles used it to defend the law and as a reason to force underage drinking to stop due its dangerous nature. Others found it as a sign that the current system is broken and encourages these kinds of behaviors. Nevertheless I see it as good material for the primary research aspect and getting a gauge on the DU communities view on the matter.

Reference:

Dunnagan, T., Haynes, G., Linkenbach, J., & Shatwell, P. (2003). Developing theoretical and environmental policy for underage drinking. American Journal of Health Behavior, 27(5), 508-523. Retrieved from http://0-search.proquest.com.bianca.penlib.du.edu/docview/211878874?accountid=14608

Coll, J. E., Draves, P. R., & Major, M. E. (2008). AN EXAMINATION OF UNDERAGE DRINKING IN A SAMPLE OF PRIVATE UNIVERSITY STUDENTS. College Student Journal, 42(4), 982-985. Retrieved from http://0-search.proquest.com.bianca.penlib.du.edu/docview/236588640?accountid=14608

Miller, N. S., M.D., Stout, A. W., B.A., & Sheppard, L. M., M.A. (2000). Underage drinking among college students. Psychiatric Annals, 30(9), 597-601. Retrieved from http://0-search.proquest.com.bianca.penlib.du.edu/docview/217045030?accountid=14608

Main, C. T. (2009). Underage drinking and the drinking age. Policy Review, (155), 33-46. Retrieved from http://0-search.proquest.com.bianca.penlib.du.edu/docview/216455758?accountid=14608

Lindsay, G. B., Merrill, R. M., Owens, A., & Barleen, N. A. (2008). Parenting manuals on underage drinking: Differences between alcohol industry and non-industry publications. American Journal of Health Education, 39(3), 130-137. Retrieved from http://0-search.proquest.com.bianca.penlib.du.edu/docview/212710239?accountid=14608

Minimum Legal Drinking Age (MLDA) in 190 Countries - Minimum Legal Drinking Age - ProCon.org. (2015, August 25). Retrieved November 3, 2015, from http://drinkingage.procon.org/view.resource.php?resourceID=004294

Composition in a New Genre

Taking a piece of writing and composing it for a new genre is a critical skill for

any writer to have. The purpose is to shape the writing to better fit this new genre and

new audience that comes along with it. A good example of this would be Jon Krakauer

and his book “Into the Wild.” Krakauer was originally a journalist for Outside magazine,

wrote an article about a kid Chris McCandless who cut ties with his life and ran away to

live in the remote wilderness of Alaska. After writing this article he became fascinated

with the story and began collecting more and more information and eventually

transformed this article into a novel. Not just any novel I might add on of the best selling

of all time. So there lies the importance of composing in a new genre, you can take any

piece of your writing and transform it into a completely new genre and outlet. The

purpose of my endeavor will be to take the research project I have been working on all

quarter and make it usable for publication in the student newspaper the Clarion.

Next it’ll be key to make this attract to the same audience but yet still appealing to

the new discourse community I’m attempting to appeal to. The main change I will have

to make within the paper is change the focus more towards DU itself. The Clarion is a

very school focused paper and anything in the opinions section has to directly relate to

DU students and facility. The writing will also have to be shortened and more focused

because of the new genre that it is being placed in. No one wants to read a ten page

newspaper article, not even in the New York Times, so the points will have to become

more direct for the reader. At the same time though the content and message will have to

remain the same in the shortened version so it doesn’t lose it core purpose.

The new genre outfit for my research assignment will be the well-established

Clarion the official newspaper of DU. As a published writer of the newspaper I have a

very good sense of what will need to be transformed in the current piece. Conventions of

this new genre I’m entering will be quite a few things. This piece is will fall into the

opinions section of the paper which means I will need to add much more personal voice

in with the findings. With lines such as “The drinking age is a tired old law in the use and

needs to be lowered.” Establishing a strong voice in this section of the paper is the

success to really drawing in the reader who will either agree or make their own opinion

based on the views you express. Also the word count will have to be drastically reduced

to about 450-500 words opposed to the 3,000 plus it currently is. This part can be tricky

and particularly difficult because many important points and discoveries I’ve made will

have to be left out. I experienced this once already as I transformed a paper written in

WRIT 1122 about the death of the manual transmission into a Clarion article. The

sliming process was difficult mainly because you have to make every sentence count as

much as possible no words can be wasted space on the page. I think the Clarion is a

perfect outlet for my research project because the focus of it is drinking on college

campuses and all my primary research is done at DU. This means the article can really

resonate with the student and hopefully facility that read it because it is directly about the

culture of this campus. Also drinking on this campus and the troubles many students have

with the school is a critical issue across the school. Many feel Campus Police and Student

Life have unfairly treated them for drinking underage. A practice so common in America

as I’ve shown in my research that it feels very unjust that only a few are singled out. So

Hopefully this article can really attract the attention of the student body.

One piece I really wish to highlight from my research is the article, “AN

EXAMINATION OF UNDERAGE DRINKING IN A SAMPLE OF PRIVATE

UNIVERSITY STUDENTS”. This article took a look specifically at small private

universities like DU and studied how drinking effected its student population. It found

that at smaller schools like DU students did a much job of balancing drinking and school

then those students at larger schools like CU Boulder. This is great for my argument in

the article for letting students drink because most can handle the balance. The next article

I want to highlight from the research I’ve already done is “Underage drinking and the

drinking age” by C. T. Main. In this article she really breaks down the flaws of our

current system under the current drinking laws. She looks at how it is actually causing

more problems than good influencing binge drinking and getting good smart kids into

trouble with the law. It’s clearly a very broken system in her eyes and she cites people

like the Dean of Middlebury College in Vermont, John McCardell Jr., wrote a piece in

the New York Times highlighting the stupidity and backwards nature of our current

drinking laws.

One of the new sources I’d like to cite is Dean McCardell’s New York Times

article itself. He talks extensively about his experiences with college students and seeing

some get in trouble for no other reason than for the fact that they had drank a little that

night. He cites how backwards and outdated the current laws are with the rest of the

world and how more harm than good is actually coming of it. He also recognizes that no

matter what college students are going to drink no matter what laws you put in place so

you might as well make it legal for them.

The last thing I would like to cite in the article is information about our own

current Chancellor Rebecca Chopp. She actually signed petition along with 130 college

presidents in 2008 in support of lowering the drinking age. If our own Chancellor

supports this idea shouldn’t it be allowed? Great food for thought amongst the other

information in the article.

Reference:

Main, C. T. (2009). Underage drinking and the drinking age. Policy Review, (155), 33-46.

Retrieved from http://0-

search.proquest.com.bianca.penlib.du.edu/docview/216455758?accountid=14608

Coll, J. E., Draves, P. R., & Major, M. E. (2008). AN EXAMINATION OF UNDERAGE DRINKING

IN A SAMPLE OF PRIVATE UNIVERSITY STUDENTS. College Student Journal, 42(4), 982-985.

Retrieved from http://0-

search.proquest.com.bianca.penlib.du.edu/docview/236588640?accountid=14608

McCardell, J. M., Jr. (2012, June 23). Let Them Drink at 18, With a Learner’s Permit

[Editorial]. New York Times. Retrieved from

http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2012/05/28/do-we-need-to-redefine-adulthood/let-

them-drink-at-18-with-a-learners-permit

College Presidents Debate Drinking Age. (n.d.). Retrieved from

http://abcnews.go.com/WN/story?id=5612870

MAPS 3

Theory of Writing

Writing is the art in which you voice through words a message in which you then must prove.

The Map I have done represents the journey a writer must go through in order to create a piece powerful and persuasive, yet well rounded and interesting. I used a metaphor of the colonization of the United States starting in England then moving all the way through to westward expansion. Felt this is a good metaphor because it represents all the hurdles that a writer must cross in order to make their piece purposeful and respected like our country today (everyone’s got haters).

There is a lot of key terms overlapping the maps. They all seem to apply and mix with one another and are all critical to writing success. For instance prior knowledge I believe is the key to any aspect of writing because you will always use it no matter what. Critical incident is the motivator whether it's in the theory or the process of reflection. In order to be effective in writing you must always prove yourself and back your claims with research and this all comes together into one large theory and execution of good writing. Whether it be a lab report or a newspaper article they all follow the same guidelines.

Being a visual learner using the maps exercises really helped me see the aspects and processes of writing. It was easier to see how to break up all the elements and key terms that go into writing. It was also extremely helpful to gain a better grasp and understanding of the various key terms we have learned throughout the quarter. When you can apply them to make sense of various aspects of writing from reflection to theory it gives you a better overall understanding of the art that is writing.  

MAPS 2

This map was strictly focused around the creation of a research writing assignment like the final one we are completing for class. While the first map was much more open ended interpretation of the key terms and how to apply them to our writing this is much more focused map. It’s built strictly around how to use the key terms to create a successful research paper. There’s definitely overlap between the two like it is important to instantly identify the rhetorical situation and once that is established you can build the rest of the piece based on nature of rhetorical situation.

        I think my map uses a really nice metaphor of building a car for connecting the key terms for the purpose of a research assignment. Starting with the “design team” is the idea of establishing a question. What purpose is this piece trying to serve and what needs to be researched to come to a conclusion or answer. It’s a good blend of prior knowledge of writing research papers with the current knowledge of key terms like genre and audience we learned in this class.

        These maps supply a great visual reference tool for all the key terms and writing processes we are currently learning in class. To be able to connect everything with visual connotation is great for our final piece on the theory of writing. Seeing all these terms blended answering different questions will lead very nicely into creating our very own theory of writing.

MAPS 1

Prior knowledge is still extremely present in the current stage of this class. Every class you walk into day one you come in with expectations, prior experiences and an attitude. The knowledge you bring into the class shapes how you approach assignments and how you go about learning new knowledge.

My maps walks you visually through connecting what knowledge I brough coming into this class and how I am navigating writing and researching with the key terms I’ve been taught. I thought the images I used to display the key terms were very representational of their definitions and applications. My map really breaks down building a piece of writing from the start to finish and how to get what I want out of any piece I’m pursuing.  

I see writing as a collection of ideas organized together through various key terms. When building a piece in order for it to hold the most validity you must take a step by step process realizing all the key pieces such as voice and genre. In order to make a piece have strong value u must simply follow these steps and deeply think about each one. Once you have walked through the map of terms and you have stopped and thought long enough at each one you can create a professional piece of writing.

Voice

Voice Poster

       

In my humble opinion voice is the most important aspect of any piece of writing. Sure this does not apply as much to scientific writing where it is solely to display facts through a very clear lens is the goal but it is crucial in many forms of opinionated writing. Voice is so crucial in any writing practice because it is what separates you from the field of other writers. What unique characteristics or ideals do you bring to the table that make you look a something or someone in the way you do.   

        As some who lives, breaths and eats cars I’m going to use an automotive journalism example to further my point about voice in writing. In the automotive journalist world the same set of cars will be reviewed by various publishes but in the end after reading all them they can sound repetitive and dull. For instance when the new Corvette (C7) Stingray came out I must have read an upwards of 10 plus articles on it. All with the same basic tone and conclusion about the car. However there in one person in this industry who no matter what will tell it different from the rest of the lot that man is Jeremy Clarkson. For instance back when Ferrari launched its all-new 458 Italia, their flagship mid-engined supercar, journalist from all publishing companies had only great things to say about it. They said it was fast, fun, sharp and things of that nature. But when Jeremy had his go in it he was more than thrilled by it. He exclaimed, “This car is so good I wouldn’t care if the seats had spikes and it ate one of my legs!” He brought an entire new vision and emotion to reports on this car and how it was making all the journalist feel. He was somehow the most enthralling to see and really gave the reader a proper feel of what it was like to drive this amazing piece of machine. This is the power of voice in writing.

        To quote the CCC reading, “creating a written voice through which to communicate with others is a useful way to think of writing.” Its not only creating your own voice but its making it your own that will lead to your success as a writer no matter the rhetorical situation. While developing your writing you should also be developing your voice as it changes through your various real world experiences. You writing should be a lens looking inside you.   

Theory of Writing

Theory of Writing

        In order to conceptualize a theory of writing you must look at why we write. What’s the purpose? What is the end goal of any piece? To pass your class certainly a popular one in high school and college but maybe you’re an astrophysicist and you want to prove to the scientific community the elements found in a black hole. Maybe even you’re a fiction writer and you want to entertain and hook your reader with your story about a school for wizards and witches. While these are all very various forms of writing they all aim to accomplish something, a purpose. In my eyes then the theory of writing is simply the words, you write down on that paper or type on that computer, to express meaning and purpose to all that read them.

        My theory of writing coming into this WRIT 1133 was pretty much the same but this course has rather deepened my understand of theory behind writing. What this course has really evolved for me in terms of my understanding of writing is proper application of a piece for whatever purposes it is trying to achieve. To simplify this it is understand the rhetorical situation. Bitzer described in our reading “The Rhetorical Situation” the means of finding your rhetorical situation for the rhetorical discourse that is your aim. “When I ask. What is a rhetorical situation?, I want to know the nature of those contexts in which speakers or writers create rhetorical discourse: How should they be described? What are their characteristics?” (Bitzer pg.1). To best understand the rhetorical situation for the rhetorical discourse you must understand your genre and audience. To quote myself from our blogger posts, “Genre is key to understanding rhetorical situations. One of the most important parts of genre is understand whom your audience and how to properly display your message to them.” To even further that point and my theory in the article “Navigating Theory” by Kerry Dirk she talk about the application and importance of knowing your genre in order to achieve the goals of your peice, knowing what a genre is used for can help people to accomplish goals, “In other words, knowing what a genre is used for can help people to accomplish goals, whether that goal be getting a job by knowing how to write a stellar resume, winning a person’s heart by writing a romantic love letter, or getting into college by writing an effective personal statement” (Dirk, pg. 253).

Each piece of composition in this course highlighted and demanded different rhetorical situations that really helped us evolve and practice different styles of writing demanded by the various rhetorical discourse. For instance in the research report for our final papers the focus was simply to report the findings of our primary and secondary research efforts. In this specific piece the goal is to be concise and clear about the various findings the research revealed about the topic at hand. While other pieces were much more analytic focused like the various “MAPS” exercises. During these we were asked to delve deeper into the means of the various key terms and knowledge we collected through the duration of the course and make connections and meaning of each one. This one for example of my visualization of my theory of writing an effective piece of research based writing using the metaphor of the colonization and expansion of the United States.

       

Prior knowledge plays a major role in how you tackle writing in any genre and how you approach any rhetorical situation. Instead of the term prior knowledge I rather prefer to use the term prior experience. My prior experience as a writer before this course writing like writing opinion columns for the Clarion and various creative writing pieces for my English really gave me a certain take or flavor of writing I enjoy and try to model. This course however, has given me a bit of a remix in my background of my prior knowledge in the field of writing. During my first WRIT 1122 course I took straight out of high school gave me a major retake on writing on how I present my ideals in sed pieces. This critical incident was because was prior knowledge of writing in high school was very regimented with a specific numbers body paragraphs with a specific number of support ideas in each one. Coming to college really taught me to develop my own style in which I best think my information and message is displayed. So having taken this course later in my college career it has been much more of a remix of my prior knowledge. For instance as an opinions writer I almost always want to add my own two cents to every piece I create. This course however has taught me that it is not always appropriate methodology for the rhetorical situation in which I am writing. The main paper for instance of this course is to research a topic and publish the findings and answer the question surrounding the paper. It is much less subjective form of writing and more objective because it's not there to make an argument but rather to directly publish findings and leave the interpretation up to the reader if you have successfully answered the question you originally asked.

        Of course I’ve used this theory of writing before it is applicable to every form of writing I’ve ever tackled and will ever in the future. The most critical element in my theory is to find your purpose in whatever type of piece you are trying to generate. So essentially to find the right purpose you must be conscience of the genre and audience of the piece. What goes along with genre and audience is rhetorical situation. In the course I’ve used this with great deliberation while composing the final essay. First the audience which is our campus and making the findings of the research as applicable to members of the entire DU community. At the same time it is strictly a research piece not so much for the expression of my personal views. Realizing this I’ve focused my paper strictly on findings within the research with minimized use of person voice and views.

        This theory transfers to all rhetorical situations across the field of academic and non-academic pieces. All pieces of writing inquire a certain purpose and audience. For instance on my NOLS trip I wrote personal journals and pieces about the desolate environment I was surrounded by the entire time. The audience was myself, the purpose a tool of reflection and memory. Meanwhile in an academic form of writing I pursue in my future endeavors as a student simply looking at he purpose of the piece and what I aim to accomplish. By looking at the goals finding the right rhetorical situation in which you are composing the piece for your piece will hold proper purpose and meaning.

The Underage Drinking epidemic on College Campuses

The Underage Drinking epidemic on College Campuses

Thomas S. Porricolo

University of Denver

Introduction

When one is to look at the American college experience what comes to mind? A large football stadium filled with roughly students ready to lose their voices for weeks to make sure the opposing quarterback hears that his “mother is a whore.” Maybe you take a more scholarly approach to the thought of kids in multi-million dollar libraries and classrooms diligently studying. Both would be correct assumptions about colleges and universities across America however what seems to be most popularly associated stigma is drinking. Kids outside of large “frat” houses holding red solo cups playing drinking games involving ping pong balls chugging copious amounts of beer when they lose.

            Nevertheless it is extremely paradoxical that most of the kids doing that drinking are technically breaking a federal law of the United States of America. Let's rewind a little to Vietnam War era America, the youth in the country are fighting for representation after so many were drafted and forced off to war. A popular saying was coined “If you’re old enough to fight and die for your country, why can’t you vote?” (Haynes, 2003). This along with momentous backing from across the country lowered the voting age from 21 to 18 so that those teenagers going off to war at least had a say in their countries affairs. After this successful movement the saying was then adopted to for drinking “If you’re old enough to fight and die for your country, why can’t you vote?”1 This secondary movement for more liberties for America's youth was also successful; between 1970 and 1976 29 states lowered their drinking age below 21. However it was short lived as the changes in the law had disastrous effects. Traffic deaths in young teens skyrocketed due to a massive increase in drunk driving amongst young adults. This lead almost instantly for calls to revoke the new lower drinking age and in 1984 Congress passed the Uniform Drinking Age Act which required all states to raise the age to 21 for any kind of alcohol consumption. Fast forward to present day we and the laws haven’t changed, every state across the nation has this same drinking age with little indication that it has slowed underage consumption much especially on college campuses. Upon surveying students at Harvard two separate times, 4 years apart, they found that around exactly the same amount of students said they binge drink, 44% in 1993 and 53% in 1997 (Draves, 2008) So even at a university prestigious as Harvard over half the student body say they binge drink. This all just begs the question have we just accepted underage drinking as a part of our collegiate culture? Is it socially and culturally acceptable at our colleges and universities across our vast nation?

Methods

To inquire more on this topic I took the University of Denver campus to observe the drinking culture and try to get a better understanding of what students and faculty think of it. What a better way to discover this aspect of American culture than witness it first hand on campus. I interviewed with an employee of the University of Denver, an RA in a first year residence hall and asked her questions regarding her experiences with first year students drinking habits such as “What’s the worst situation you’ve had to deal with regarding a resident and alcohol?” I made an anonymous survey of which 50 randomly selected students partook in together a general conciseness of students view of drinking. I found this random group of DU students by posting a link to survey on my Facebook and randomly asked undergrads on campus to take it. I asked questions like “Would you consider drinking a large part of undergrad student culture at DU”. I also did some person observation of the nightlife at DU by going to a party at an unnamed location on a Thursday night on the 22^nd of October around 10:15. The around 12:15 I observed the behavior of the student coming in and out of the bars on University Boulevard between Asbury and E. Evans Ave. What I was looking for was how heavily students were drinking and the general feel of the age groups attending both events on that Thursday night.

Results

Through anonymous surveys of about 50 students attending the University of Denver I found that nearly 90% found it “socially acceptable” and a “large part of student culture” at school. These results were only shocking not only because of the large number who were okay with drinking but what they said they found could go wrong with it. In the comments section of the survey many students talked about the importance of balancing drinking and having fun but at the same time making sure it wasn’t getting in the way of school. Also concerns that were voiced were of safety, many students talked about the legality sometimes leading to mistakes. For instance a drunken student with a friend who is clearly far too drunk fears to call and agency like campus police for fear of the repercussions both may have because of it (DU does NOT have a good Samaritan policy). So it seems what is wrong with the drinking culture might not be the students themselves but rather the policies surrounding it.

            Upon collection of this data I decided to take a look at what some of the faculty dealing with underage drinking in campus thought of drinking at DU and whether or not they approved of the policies set forth by the university. To do this I interview a second year Resident Assistant or RA who works in Centennial Towers a freshman dorm. It must be noted that RA’s are also students of the university but I thought the unique balance they had between being a student while also being employed by the university would offer inimitable insight. I opened the interview with very simple questions about her job: “How many residents live on your floor?”, “How many in the building?”, “What tasks does your job entail?” I did this to get a general feel and sense of her day-to-day life as an RA. She has 22 residents who live on her and there are around 400 in the dorm. As an RA she is required to work the front desk which is employed 24/7 and also do rounds of the building time to time to make sure the students are behaving. I then began to prod about the drinking culture amongst the first years in the building. At DU all first year dorm rooms are alcohol free meaning even if your 21 you can’t bring alcohol in the building. Also all residents of freshman dorms are below the age of 21, if a freshman is 21 or older they live in second year housing. Nevertheless she admitted that it didn’t stop large numbers of residents drinking in the building. I asked her then what the worst experience she’s had to deal with regarding a resident and drinking and she shared a story of a girl violently throwing up in the lobby and needed assistance of the paramedics. She shared though that this was an isolated incident and is far from common, “That night was very far from an average night working the front desk… I’d say students generally compose themselves well when drinking.” I asked her how dangerous she thought drinking was for first years to which she said, “It depends on the resident, the background they come from… like did they drink in high school were there parents okay with it.” She also said, “students who haven’t drank before college are at a much higher risk of ending up in the hospital because of their lack of experience with drinking paired with the abundant accessibility of alcohol.” She also spoke to the campus police detox policy. Technically any student, of age or not, on campus who is above the legal limit of .08 blood alcohol content or BAC is deemed unfit to stay on campus and is sent to the city of Denver detox facility. She was not a supporter of the policy, “I understand the liability problems but sending students downtown to a city owned drunk tank is excessive and a waste of money.”  

            As a student of DU I was able to get a really good sense of drinking cultural through some first hand observations at various parties around campus. It must first be said that since this is a sensitive topic I will not be disclosing any names or address of parties I observed. A typical night out for the DU student seemed to entail a few steps… First was the pregame with friends, which was small and usually entailed about 5-10 people in someone’s dorm room, apartment, house etc. Second was the house party, the groups of students pre-gaming all around campus would go off to sed house party where their other friends would all meet; alcohol here was usually bought by someone underage. At the house parties there usually was a keg bought by someone who was 21. This was because many kids said it was too “high risk” for anyone underage to get one. Also most of the students who own houses are upperclassmen and are of age. Nevertheless many of the people at the house parties were underclassmen, I found this interesting and inquired some student in attendance of the parties as to why. The synonymous answer was that most upperclassmen especially juniors were A abroad and B had far more work than the freshman and sophomores still taking the “easier” classes. Ergo I’d say about 75% of the party attendees were underage. The night was still not over after the party though; the next move was to the bars around campus. You may think because only about 25% of the party was of age then that would mean there would not be a very large crowd. You’d be wrong however the scene outside the bars was large and bustling at 12:30 at night. The lines out the door with waits that looked they could last 30 minutes. I’m going to have to be very carful here but you should be able to figure out the ways the underage kids got into bars that require you to show ID every time you enter. The answer is something that isn’t quite legal it’s an ID that isn’t real but says sed person is of age.

Discussion

So what is abundantly clear from this research and really shouldn’t be a surprise to any of us is underage drinking at DU is ramped like many colleges across the country. According to the National Institute for Alcohol Abuse and Alcholism in the US, About 8.7 million people ages 12–20 (22.7 percent of this age group) reported drinking alcohol in the past month (23 percent of males and 22.5 percent of females) (“Underage Drinking”, 2015). This was expected of my research but nevertheless it isn’t the point I’m pushing here. The culture of drinking at DU was what I was looking at and having interviewed and observed students from across campus it is clear that it is not only very socially accepted and almost encouraged but is an extremely large part of the experience. Nevertheless the students weren’t as reckless as you might have expected with their drinking. Almost all found the safety behind it concerning… a feeling a distrust of the authority due it’s legality seemed to pose and issue. All also agreed it need to come in perfect balance with schoolwork amongst other obligations. This was almost exactly inline with the research findings in the “AN EXAMINATION OF UNDERAGE DRINKING IN A SAMPLE OF PRIVATE UNIVERSITY STUDENTS” where various grad students researched the impact underage drinking on students at smaller universities like DU. They found that they generally where much better at balancing their obligations with their vices.

Many articles in my secondary research were very anti drinking and talked about the dangers of binge drinking and how common it is on college campuses. One article highlighted some extreme measures that she said “needed” to take place to slow the underage drinking rate such as no one with a record of serving minors or caught drinking while they were minors should be allowed to buy kegs or kicking everyone not over 21 out of restaurant bars at 9pm (Miller, 2000). Based on my observations however I don’t actually see this doing that much for slowing underage drinking. I don’t think it possible to ever stop the older generation for buying and serving booze to minors. I’m sure your first thought after that sentence you pictured your older friend let call him “Chad” buying your friends a rack for your pregame but the field of view is much more extensive than that. For instance I come from an Italian family so my parents have been serving me wine since I was 16. In the same respect they have bought me alcohol before as have a lot of parents of underage kids. If the people who raised you supply it to you how wrong can it be? Its funny We are one of 12 countries in the world that have a drinking age of 21 or older in every other country in the world where drinking is legal it is below that. 60% of countries in the world the drinking age is either 18 or 19 and in 21% of countries it is even lower than that. So that means that an 18 year old, the average age of a first year college undergrad, can drink in 81% of countries in the world, which is staggering (“Minimum Legal Drinking Age”, 2015). Also not to mention the current Chancellor of DU signed a petition in 2008 to lower the legal drinking age in the United States (“Amethyst Initiative” 2015). Why should students be getting in trouble with the school for this then it like if your mom told you drinking was okay but every time you came home drunk she grounded you, it just doesn’t make sense.

Limitations

The limitations of the piece varied in nature but the time constraint of a quarter was the largest. On top of taking 16 credit hours and working two jobs its not easy to have time to really get good primary research. Other limitations include my topics nature. Since I have to comply with IRB regulations a lot had to be left out because they are deemed inappropriate by the University of Denver

Yes the negatives of underage drinking can be very bad to a young student's life, but to those people like C. T. Main who was a psychologist who broke down the wrongs of underage drinking and how to curb the dangers of it by scaring students and educating them on the dangers (Main 45), I think need to accept how acceptable it is on college campuses. For sure it’s exactly promoted or condoned by universities but it is happening everywhere right in front. This sort of “blind-eye” application clearly has it dangers like the “don’t ask don’t tell” policy in the military.

Conclusion

The answer to all this research is that YES it is overwhelmingly popular and accessible to drink underage at college. Especially at DU it almost seems like a little bubble where the 21 drinking age doesn’t apply. 100$ sent to china will give u access to quite a few bars and 20$ will get you a 30 rack from the liquor store. Maybe it's time to pull the blind eye approach to this epidemic across the nation.

           

           

Appendix A: 

“How long have you been an RA?”

“What does the job entail?”  

“How many residents live on your floor?”

“What is the worst situation you’ve dealt with regarding a resident and drinking?” 

“What are the universities polices for intoxicated students? Do you agree?”  

 “How dangerous is drinking for first year students?”

Appendix B:

“What year are you?”

“Is drinking a large part of culture on campus?”

“What are the dangers?”

“Does drinking make it difficult to manage school work?”

“Would you can the legal drinking age in the United States?”

IRB Consent Form:

Reference:

Dunnagan, T., Haynes, G., Linkenbach, J., & Shatwell, P. (2003). Developing theoretical and environmental policy for underage drinking. American Journal of Health Behavior, 27(5), 508-523. Retrieved from http://0-search.proquest.com.bianca.penlib.du.edu/docview/211878874?accountid=14608

Coll, J. E., Draves, P. R., & Major, M. E. (2008). AN EXAMINATION OF UNDERAGE DRINKING IN A SAMPLE OF PRIVATE UNIVERSITY STUDENTS. College Student Journal, 42(4), 982-985. Retrieved from http://0-search.proquest.com.bianca.penlib.du.edu/docview/236588640?accountid=14608

Miller, N. S., M.D., Stout, A. W., B.A., & Sheppard, L. M., M.A. (2000). Underage drinking among college students. Psychiatric Annals, 30(9), 597-601. Retrieved from http://0-search.proquest.com.bianca.penlib.du.edu/docview/217045030?accountid=14608

Main, C. T. (2009). Underage drinking and the drinking age. Policy Review, (155), 33-46. Retrieved from http://0-search.proquest.com.bianca.penlib.du.edu/docview/216455758?accountid=14608

Minimum Legal Drinking Age (MLDA) in 190 Countries - Minimum Legal Drinking Age - ProCon.org. (2015, August 25). Retrieved November 3, 2015, from http://drinkingage.procon.org/view.resource.php?resourceID=004294

Amethyst Initiative. (n.d.). Retrieved November 10, 2015, from http://www.theamethystinitiative.org/signatories/

Underage Drinking. (n.d.). Retrieved November 23, 2015, from http://www.niaaa.nih.gov/alcohol-health/special-populations-co-occurring-disorders/underage-drinking