Editorial: Alcohol policies flawed

By Caitlin Thornbrugh

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

To address the serious alcohol problem at the University, the administration has mandated that virtually all incoming, degree-seeking students under the age of 21 must take an online alcohol class that aims to inform them about responsible drinking.

In contrast to some policies proposed to address alcohol problems at the University, the new initiative to educate students is a step in the right direction, although it does need improvement.

These classes, called AlcoholEdu, are not perfect. The skits and short videos included as part of the course will win no awards for acting or best screenplay. Some of the material borders on downright cheesy. It is also possible for some students to just choose not to watch the video portions.

“The videos you could just mute,” said Claire McInerny, Overland Park, freshman. “Everyone I talked to said they were on the phone with someone or just watching something on TV.”

Diana Robertson, director of student housing, said the goal of these classes was to increase the baseline knowledge of incoming students so that the administration does not need to make assumptions about how much alcohol education students have. She also said she found the classes to be extremely informative, even for someone such as herself who was familiar with alcohol education.

“I learned a lot,” she said. “I assumed that I knew more than I did going in.”

McInerny agrees to an extent. “I understand why the University did it, and I thought there were good things in it about what to do if someone has alcohol poisoning,” McInerny said. “I wouldn’t have known what the signs were if I wouldn’t have watched it.”

The length of the program detracts from its effectiveness. The length of the initial class is fairly long, estimated to take most students two to three hours to complete. One of the longest parts of the course is the survey portion.

The course tries to tailor its content to different groups of students based on their responses about previous alcohol education and their drinking habits. However, this relies upon students answering the questions honestly, which will not always be the case. Students will most likely answer lower than the true amount they actually consume or not pay attention to their answers whatsoever.

“The survey was the longest part, and you had to do it twice,” McInerny said. “Everyone I talked to said they just went through and clicked buttons, because it took so long.”

The administration is using AlcoholEdu to collect information they can use to target initiatives addressing the roots of the University’s alcohol problems.

This is done by compiling answers from the surveys that students complete during the course. Again, this information will not be valid, because of the likelihood that students will not answer honestly.

The University’s administration should be commended for requiring better alcohol education for incoming students. However, this program is still obviously flawed and the University needs to continue examining ways to realistically improve how it reaches students.

— Josh Goetting contributed reporting for this story.

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