In the fall of 1997, RIT instituted a policy that bans all alcohol use
in RIT residence halls including Greek houses, and allows only drinking-age
students in RIT apartments to possess alcohol, limited to non-bulk containers.
President Albert Simone initiated the policy following repeated behavior
problems by students who had been drinking, and following recent alcohol-related
deaths at other universities.
The policy raised some debate among the RIT community, parents and
news media. One of the outcomes: two RIT criminal justice professors
proposed a student survey to measure drinking, drug use and problem behaviors
on campus, to serve as a base for subsequent annual surveys.
Assistant professors Paul Stretesky and Jonathan Odo designed and implemented
a 33-question survey given in randomly chosen RIT classrooms this past
spring. With help from Laverne McQuiller, assistant professor, they gathered
information from 303 cross-curricular freshman-to-senior students.
"We proposed this survey primarily because we were concerned about
the
student alcohol policy and its impact on students--how they would react to
it, " says Stretesky. "We wanted to give students input into that policy by
surveying their experiences; which can help RIT address the issue," adds Odo.
"We were also interested in how RIT matched up with the rest of the
country in terms of drinking and drug patterns and behaviors on campuses," explains
Stretesky. "One of our big questions we hoped to answer was 'Does drinking
actually correlate to undesirable behaviors?'" i.e. cheating, unprotected
sex, vandalism and violence.
The answer? "Yes, we found that RIT students who drink more often are
more likely to act inappropriately," states Stretesky. Significant survey
findings from the RIT project include the following:
- Binge drinking--46.5 percent of students surveyed drank five or more
drinks in a day at least once during the past month (nationally, it's
44 percent);
- Frequent binge drinking (three or more binges in past month)--27
percent of students surveyed fit this (nationally, it's 22
percent);
- A clear correlation to past drinking habits
and current drinking practices--being at RIT
doesn't seem to have an effect;
- A majority
(72.3 percent)
of students
drank alcohol
during the
199798
school year;
- The
largest
percentage
(35
percent)
of
students
drink
weekly;
- Most
drinking
occurs
in
on-campus
apartments
(51.2
percent),
off-campus
bars
and
restaurants
come
in
second
at
49.5
percent;
- Drinking
on
the
road--14.5
percent
of
students
drink
alcohol
in
a
vehicle;
- Students
consume
far
more
alcohol
than
illegal
drugs,
the
most
frequent
being
marijuana
used
by
28.7
percent
of
students
last
year,
though
mostly
only
occasionally;
- A
large
(42.8)
percent
of
daily
drinkers
cheated
one
or
more
times
in
the
last
academic
year
versus
only
15
percent
of
those
who
abstain;
- Nearly
half
(40
percent)
of
students
who
drink
daily
missed
over
10
classes
last
year
compared
to
only
9.5
percent
of
students
who
never
drink;
- Campus Safety has approached 60 percent of students who are daily
drinkers "at least one time because of their behavior";
- Of daily drinkers, 13.4 percent had unwanted sex three or
more times last year; of weekly drinkers, 17.5 percent had
unwanted sex one or more times;
- Half of daily drinkers engaged in unprotected
sex one or more times.
The survey revealed one thing that the
professors did not expect. "We weren't
looking for this at all, and it would appear
to be a significant issue. It turns out
that 25 percent of the women had unwanted
sexual advances made towards them," says
Stretesky. But only 6 percent of the men
admit having made unwanted advances.
In terms of the survey's overall results, "we
found that RIT is very similar to other
universities," explains Odo, noting they
based that finding on the national survey
published in the May 8 Chronicle of Higher
Education. Though some schools have taken "preemptive
measures" to prevent substance abuse-related
tragedies, any college that receives money
from the federal government has some sort
of policy in place, adds Odo.
"We hope to continue the survey every
year to look at changes in behavior on
campus, which would help RIT evaluate its
policies," notes Stretesky. "It's hard
to determine if changes are due to policy
or not--we need more data over time." The
criminal justice department intends to
continue the survey project as a collaborative
effort.
To find the entire survey results, complete
with graphs and summations, go to the Web
at http://www.rit.edu/~pbsgcj and
select Student Survey.
