Pace Paw Print

An anonymous survey was conducted on Pleasantville campus in Martin Hall on November 4, 2007. The purpose of the survey was to get an idea of how many college students who live on campus drink alcohol. The results were astonishing.

Nineteen male and twelve female students participated in the survey. Of the 31 students who partook in the questionnaire, 87 percent admitted to drinking alcohol on campus; 16 out of the 19 males and 11 out of the 12 females.

Those who drank wrote that they drunk alcohol because they were bored, needed to socialize, have fun, relax, pre-game (drinking before you go out to a bar or party), and because bars were too expensive. In addition to this, one person confessed to being an alcoholic and stated that drinking is "just a habit." Another participant said that drinking on campus prevents people from drinking and driving.

Furthermore, students' drinking on campus was not limited to only the weekends. Four out of sixteen male drinkers reported drinking on both weekends and weekdays. These same students drank more than or about two to three times per week. They consumed anything from hard liquor, beer, and wine. To the contrary, all females drank strictly on the weekends; they too consumed all types of alcohol, including wine coolers.

Only ten percent of males and females combined said they would drink less often if there were better activities on campus. Even though such a small amount of people would drink less, others still provided answers to activities that they would enjoy on campus. Some of these activities include, an arcade day that would consist of go carts, an X-box system, boxing, and more. Also, one student would love anything related to music. The student was eager to write that he would enjoy more on-campus parties and more involvement from Pace University's radio station (WPAW).

Another aspect implemented in the survey was the amount of people who played beer pong. Beer pong is a friendly competitive game that allows players to get drunk. It is played by creating a pyramid of cups next to each other. There are usually ten cups used. After the cups are lined up they are filled with beer. The objective is to throw a ping pong ball into the other team's cup which is across the table. If the ball lands in the cup, the opposing team member must drink the cup of beer. In order to win, a team must make the opposing team drink all their beer first, in turn, leading to drunkenness and sometimes binge drinking.

While playing this game, the ball tends to land on the floor which makes it dirty. Therefore, a cup of water is usually placed on the table as well in order to rinse the ball off. However, rinsing the ball off in the same dirty water isn't doing such a good cleaning job. 40 percent of students who play beer pong on campus said that the dirty beer pong ball bothered them. However, that wasn't enough to stop them from playing as the benefits of the game (getting drunk) outweigh possible contamination from a few germs.

Maybe if students were aware of what types of germs manifested on the ping pong ball they would change their minds. Two students from Washington University named Aaron Heffner and Ben Morrissey did a study to see how much germs are really on the ball. They went to their school laboratory and found that countless amounts of bacteria were harvesting on the ball. Bacteria found on each ball were overwhelmingly similar: E. coli, pneumonia, and salmonella families. These bacteria can lead to diarrhea, headache, fever, and other flu-like symptoms. The binge drinking that occurs with beer pong or any other drinking time has many serious effects on the body and its organs. Even though alcohol may be fun or may make a person feel good, its long term effects include depression, mood swings, violence, and more. Drinking alcohol numerous times in a week puts a greater risk on an individual's possibility of liver failure and damage to other organs. Binge drinking most often also leads to alcohol poisoning. Signs to be aware of that can indicate alcohol poisoning is vomiting, especially when passed out, slow breathing, unconsciousness, seizures, and more. If ever in a situation when a friend presents these symptoms, the first thing to do is call 9-1-1. This simple action could save a life.

Based on Pace University's drinking habits among students, some intervention is needed. Even though it is common for college students to drink regularly on campus, it isn't an excuse to allow the negative behavior to claim someone's life.

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