Alcohol program pushed

CASE desires web survey as university requirement

By: Brian Reisinger

Posted: 3/2/06

The Center for Alcohol Studies and Education want to make an online drinking program mandatory for UW-Eau Claire students.

Check-up to Go, or "e-CHUG," consists of a short survey for students to share their drinking habits, as well as a feedback section with suggestions about how to drink in moderation.

Ideally, the program would take the form of a registration requirement for incoming freshmen, though it could also be a condition for graduation, Nina Albonese-Kotar of CASE said.

"If we maybe start (students) thinking about their drinking before they arrive, we may influence them to modify their drinking," she said. "This really just lays all the cards on the table."

Annual subscriptions for the program cost $745, and all respondents remain anonymous. More than 200 universities in 36 states use the program in various capacities, including UW-Madison and UW-Stout, according to the e-CHUG Web site.

The program is not an academic requirement at either of the UW schools but is sometimes used for educational or disciplinary purposes, officials at both universities said.

Making the program mandatory at Eau Claire would promote responsible drinking within the student body, as well as provide comprehensive data on drinking trends to administrators and counselors, Albonese-Kotar said.

Because the survey would have to be an academic requirement to be mandatory, it requires the approval of University Senate, which Albonese-Kotar said she hopes to secure by fall 2006.

P.J. Kennedy, director of Counseling Services at Eau Claire, said programs that promote moderation simply encourage students to adopt habits they will eventually develop on their own, reducing the adverse effects of alcohol sooner.

"What we're doing with this class is accelerating a natural process," he said. "It's unfortunate when people learn the hard way."

Students expressed mixed opinions on the matter.

Junior Jarrett Waite took a several-hour online moderation course as punishment for underage drinking in the residence halls. He said he thinks mandating an online survey is inappropriate.

"I don't think it's the university's responsibility to make (students) learn moderation," he said.

He said he doubts the online survey would impact students' decisions, saying moderation is an approach to drinking they have to learn on their own.

"I don't think the survey is going to make much of a difference," he said. "After waking up in your own vomit a few times, you realize."

Sophomore Amanda Brick disagreed. Exposing incoming freshmen to moderation skills would help prepare them for the college experience - which is about more than drinking, she said.

"I think it's a good idea, because a lot of freshmen come in not knowing what college is all about," she said. "When students come into college, they have the whole party scene in their head."

Junior Andrew Ingebright-son said though he doesn't oppose the idea, in his view, the campus community and society at large are already inundated with information about alcohol, making the survey unnecessary.

"There's already a lot of information out there," he said. "It kind of comes down to the individual."

For more information visit:
http://www.e-chug.com