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In an effort to measure the 30-day and 12-month use rates of alcohol, tobacco and marijuana, the University of Minnesota’s Boynton Health Services asked for local colleges and universities to participate in a CORE survey. The survey is designed to assess the nature, scope, and consequences of alcohol and other drug use on college campuses.

At each participating school [see sidebar top right for participants], a random sample of 25 to 50 percent of the full-time undergraduate students received surveys, a percentage that varied with the size of the student body. Of the 16,322 surveys sent, 6,751 were completed and returned.

Of those, 458 Hamline students were randomly surveyed of the university’s approximately 1,832 full-time undergraduate students. 163 students responded, and 12 surveys were undeliverable, for a final response rate of 36.5 percent.

The overall results were completed and published last October, however, only recently was President Hanson briefed on Hamline’s data. The data was obtained by the Oracle through Dean of Students Alan Sickbert. Individual school data was not released publicly.

Alcohol Consumption

The study found Hamline’s alcohol use rates markedly higher than the other seven [see sidebar] four-year private colleges when measured collectively. Over 90 percent of Hamline students reported using alcohol in the past year, a figure 16 percentage points higher than the other four-year private institutions. Hamline’s 90.8 percent use rate was 7.9 percentage points higher than the all of the survey participants combined, of which 82.9 percent reported using alcohol within the past year.

A similar pattern appeared for alcohol use in the past 30 days. 81.4 percent of Hamline students reported using alcohol in the past 30 days, while only 60.1 percent of the other four-year private school students reported using alcohol in the past 30 days. Overall, 70.2 of survey participants reported using alcohol in the past 30 days and men between 18-24 averaged 7.53 drinks per week. By comparison, the 18-24 year old women had less than half that, at 3.6 drinks per week.

High risk drinking (HRD), or consuming more than five drinks in a single sitting within the past two weeks was also recorded by the survey.

Broken down by ages, 41.9 percent of all survey participants from ages 18-24 reported participating in HRD. Students 25 and older were less apt to participate in HRD, at 29.8 percent of that age group reporting HRD behavior.

The survey also asked students if they had experienced any one of 19 negative consequences due to drinking in the past year. The list contained consequences ranging from missing class to trying to commit suicide. Students who had less than five drinks a week reported an average of seven negative consequences in the past year. Students who had six or more reported having more than four times that amount, an average of 29.8 consequences.

For Hamline, male students who participated in HRD experienced an average of three times the number of negative consequences (23) than male students who did not (7.5). For women, those who participated in HRD averaged 22.2 negative consequences in the past year, as opposed to an average of 4.9 negative consequences for those who did not participate in HRD, a 550 percent increase.

Men were more likely to participate in HRD, at 66.6 percent, as opposed to the 40.6 percent of women who participated in HRD. For the four-year private schools, the male/female averages were at 36.5 and 24.3 percent.

In addition, the survey reported that the more times a person was intoxicated in the past year, the more negative consequences they experienced as a result of drinking. For example, those who have been drunk once in the past year reported an average of 16.1 negative consequences, whereas that number doubled for respondents who were intoxicated once a week.

Tobacco Usage

Nearly one-third (29.7 percent) of all survey respondents identified themselves current tobacco users. The survey defined current tobacco users as using tobacco in the past 30 days. Reduced further, 9.7 percent of students reported using tobacco daily for an average of 8.5 cigarettes a day and 10.5 cigarettes per weekend. Among Hamline students, 32.1 percent were current tobacco users, a mark that was nearly nine points higher than the 22.3 percent of students of four-year private schools that were current tobacco users.

Hamline students were less likely to be daily tobacco users. 9.7 percent of survey participants identified themselves as daily smokers, while 6.4 percent of Hamline students said that they smoked tobacco daily. However, only 4.5 percent of students from four-year private schools were daily tobacco users.

Until last year, Hamline had designated smoking dorms. People cannot smoke within five feet of a doorway or window. Bester said her dream was to have all of campus smoke-free.

Marijuana usage

Twelve-month and 30-day marijuana usage among survey participants, Hamline students, and four-year private college students followed a similar pattern relative to each other. Thirty-four percent of participating Hamline students reported using marijuana in the past year, compared to 28.4 percent for survey participants and 21.5 percent of responding four-year private college students.

In the 30 days prior to taking the survey, 17.9 percent of participating Hamline students reported using marijuana, as opposed to 15 percent of survey participants and 9.6 percent of four-year private college students.

“You’re killing brain cells when you’re smoking this. It makes it hard to learn,” Bester said.

It’s a culture

In response to the data,various people said that drinking is embedded in the culture of Hamline.

“Culture is reinforcing it,” President Hanson said.

Hanson said that the community needs to establish that this behavior is not ok. She said the first step to addressing the issue is to get the information out to students, and then someone or something will step up to provide leadership. She said she thinks people drink because it’s the only thing to do.

Hanson said she doesn’t doubt the validity of the survey. “Students think that there’s nothing to do on weekends, except go to house parties,” said Director of Student Activities and Leadership Development Kelly Krebs. Krebs works with the Weekend Planning Board to develop late-night weekend activities.

Eventually, he said, the group hopes to have late-night activities on Friday and Saturday. The group is focused at on-campus students and those who live in the Midway area. The program will be funded “scraping together what little I have,” Krebs said. He said next year, they will be looking at more funding.

Krebs said the data was a little disturbing. “There’s something about the culture.”

Students agreed with Hanson and Krebs. “Every dorm is a party dorm,” said first-year and Osborn resident Leah Stodick, 19. “Every weekend, all people talk about is ‘Who is buying the alcohol?’”

“Sometimes you can’t go to the bathroom because the toilets are full of vomit,” Stodick said. She said the drinking mostly occurred on weekends. “People drink in the dorms to get drunk,” she said.

Senior Laura Mann, 21, said it appears drinking has become more prevalent each year.

Sophomore Brandon Erickson said there’s always a couple of parties off campus to attend. He said that when the students return to the dorms, vandalism, such as ripping down signs, occurs. He has lived in Drew for two years. “[There’s] not a whole lot else to do,” Erickson said. Erickson said he consumes 10 drinks over two or three hours on the average weekend night.

He said he thinks that drinking is not a problem. He said they drink to have fun and socialize.

Sophomore Jacob Looker said he hangs out with friends and finds parties on weekends. He said he normally consumes 10-12 drinks over a period of five or six hours on a weekend night. Looker, who lives four blocks off campus, said he doesn’t think drinking is a problem, although he said that “there’s ones who go overboard. They get out of control.” Looker said.

National data shows trends

The Core survey also takes place on a national level. In 2004, the Core Institute at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale gathered data from approximately 68,000 randomly selected students at approximately 133 participating institutions.

While the survey does not break down negative consequences into numbers per year, it gives percentages of consequences students who participated in high-risk drinking.

That survey found that of students reporting consequences of drinking in the past 12 months, 64.3 percent had had a hangover. There were some more serious consequences as well; 55.7 percent of students drove a car while under the influence and 55.7 percent had become nauseated or vomited.10.8 percent were taken advantage of sexually and 16.2 percent had been hurt physically.

The survey also found that the percent of students who experienced HRD slowly but steadily rose throughout their college career. Starting at 45.3 percent of first-years reporting HRD, 52.8 percent of seniors reported participating in HRD.

The Institute did not report which universities the data came from.

Hamline is planning to participate in the 2006 CORE survey, which will take place this spring.