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Posted on 18 July 2007.
Davidson College and other North Carolina colleges are requiring incoming freshmen to take an online course called AlcoholEdu in hopes of cutting down on student alcohol abuse. The Raleigh News & Observer and Charlotte Observer report that incoming students at N.C. State, Duke and Davidson will take the three-hour course, which shows how excessive drinking can lead to other problems, such as sexual assault and social diseases.
David Boraks - who has written 7433 posts on DavidsonNews.net.
David Boraks is the founder and editor of Davidson News LLC, which started in 2006 as a neighborhood blog and evolved into a regional community news network. He is a print, magazine, web and radio journalist, with experience in every nook and cranny of the news world, covering everything from local news to Fortune 100 companies to technology to Asia. He lives on South Street in Davidson, in a house that was at the center of a 1914 murder case. Ask him and he'll tell you that story.
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Having taken this same course 4 years ago when I started Davidson and still seeing the actions taken by fellow students, I can say that this program just doesn’t work. Ambulances have to come to campus nearly every weekend for overly intoxicated students. Illegal and excessive drinking is the norm on campus, and it has simply become part of the culture.
The idea of the program is great – educate incoming students on the effects of alcohol consumption The program works by playing videos that the student ostensibly sits and watches because they can’t be skipped. Who has 3 hours to sit and watch typically boring videos? Not college freshmen. So they do work or anything else while the video plays in the background.
If the Davidson College Administration wants to truly combat the alcohol culture, two actions need to be taken: first, education that reaches the students (i.e. having them meet with real people); and second, harsher punishments for underage or excessive drinking. Yes, alcohol certainly has a place in college life, but students need to learn how to use it safely.
As the Health Educator at Davidson College I can appreciate Dan’s comments. It is very scary to see students drink too much and get sick. The computer course is merely an introduction to the world of alcohol. Some of our students come to Davidson with lots of experience and others come with none at all. This research-based course provides a baseline of knowledge. There are other educational forums with speakers and hall talks about alcohol throughout the year.
Although the course gets good evaluations from the students (most like it), I have been concerned about students not paying attention to the course or taking it in groups. Some students fail the course for this reason and must take it over. For these reasons, all first year students and transfers are now required to take the course at home before they come to Davidson. They will be in the privacy of their own homes and will probably be more thoughtful about the material.
All suggestions and ideas are welcome. This is a tough college health issue. One course alone will never solve the problem but is certainly a piece of the solution.
The newspaper erroneously reported that this was the first year Davidson has required the course. It is our sixth year. It is not required for admission but is required once you are admitted.
Additionally, Davidson students go through many other kinds of education sessions before they’re allowed to go to parties at the Patterson Court houses. Furthermore, we have an amazing group of students and staff members that work with students throughout their four years at Davidson. Ambulances do not come to campus more than every other weekend, and while all colleges are going to have problems with drinking, Davidson certainly has less than most.