The Lumberjack

Issue date: 10/24/07 Section: Campus

Moving away from home into the dorms, you have the chance to do just about whatever you want. You can drink in the afternoon, or do your homework. The weekend could start early, or you could be buried in reading.

"The party starts on Thirsty Thursday," said Alex Nizhnikov, a marine biology freshman living in Redwood Hall. "I don't have class on Friday."

With no curfew, Nizhnikov said, he drinks more frequently but more responsibly. Students can drink every weekend for the whole month for less than $10 if they find house parties in town, Nizhnikov said.

Humboldt State University Residence Life Coordinator Nick Sweeton said, "With 1,400 people living on campus, we can't control their individual choices." What they can control is how the school responds to them.

Humboldt State's judicial approach is less punitive and more educational, giving students the tools to make good choices as they gain more freedom and self-accountability, Sweeton said

The goal of residence hall activities is to help students build positive social relationships not based on alcohol and drugs, he said. The residence halls have a three-strike policy for substance abuse, with punishments ranging from online alcohol education to removal from housing.

"Every year, we have roughly the same number of violations," Sweeton said, but the vast majority of students in the residence halls don't ever get in trouble with the housing staff.

Jay Burke, a freshman from Ventura, Calif. and resident in the Canyon, said that he definitely worries about the consequences of violating housing policy when he thinks about drinking or smoking in the dorms. Burke said that he usually gets his own alcohol, and drinks at parties off-campus and walks home.

"I drink more now," Burke said, "but I feel like I'm more responsible with it."

According to the 2006 Clery Report, a summary of on-campus crime statistics available online, far fewer students were disciplined by housing for violations of their substance policy last year than in 2005.

The report showed 97 disciplinary referrals in 2006, compared to 156 the year before.

Arrests for on-campus liquor violations were up last year, however, almost doubling in the past year from 14 to 26, the report said. That number is still far below the drug arrests, which have hovered around 80 the past two years.

University Police Chief Tom Dewey said that increase was caused by a six-month grant from the state Alcohol and Beverage Control that paid for more staffing and targeted enforcement of violations in early 2006.

Dewey said that his officers see contact with students as an educational opportunity, but that they don't routinely investigate alcohol problems in the dorms. Dewey said students are most commonly confronted by University Police when they are drinking in public places on campus, drawing attention to themselves by being loud. Violating students then receive a citation in addition to a disciplinary referral to housing.

He added that a recent grant to local law enforcement, administered by the California Highway Patrol, gives University Police new resources to target drunken drivers near campus.

"If you're at a kegger with hundreds of people getting hammered," Dewey said, "UPD, APD, and CHP will be there with a visible presence, pulling over impaired drivers."

Underage drinking is a problem every school has to deal with, Dewey said, and Humboldt State has taken a reactive approach.

Chico State, which houses about 500 more students than Humboldt, has adopted a much more proactive stance toward drinking on campus said Lizanne Leach, the judicial coordinator for Chico's residence halls.

Since changing their substance policy from three-strikes to two, and requiring all incoming freshmen to take the online alcohol course, said Leach, Chico has seen a huge drop in disciplinary referrals.

"Drinking has gone down a lot since we've tightened the rules," Leach said.

Leach said Chico's new policy adds community service to the list of punishments for dorm-room drinkers, and removes second-offenders from housing.

Before tightening their substance policy before the start of the 2005 school year, Chico disciplined 782 students for alcohol and 65 for drugs in 2004. Chico's 2006 Clery Report shows 433 referrals for alcohol - nearly half of the school's 2004 total.

Leach said that the most important change to Chico's policy was increased education for parents during orientation about the consequences of drinking in the dorms.

At Humboldt State, incoming freshmen sit through a workshop during orientation about substance choices led by the Student Health Center and North Coast Rape Crisis.

The Health Center's alcohol and drug specialist, Vincent Feliz, said that he doesn't think drinking is a big problem for Humboldt's students.

Humboldt's small drinking scene and the strict housing rules deter binge drinking, Feliz said, but the area's stronger marijuana often affects students more than they expect.

"When a student's substance use becomes an issue with classes and relationships, it is a prominent problem," Feliz said. About five students are referred to the counseling center each week for housing violations and another four or five come on their own to help control their substance use.

"We work with students to meet their goals," Feliz said. "We want all our students to be safe and successful."

Redwood Hall resident Bryan Rager, a botany freshman, doesn't think that drinking is a problem for his friends, and he said he smokes less marijuana now than when he lived in a suburb of Yosemite.

"The pot's way better and cheaper," Rager said, "so you just don't have to smoke as much."

Rager said he usually shies away from shots when drinking, trying to get buzzed when he parties instead of getting trashed.

"You can do whatever," Rager said. "You just have to be smart."



Brett Shiells can be reached at bretteley@gmail.com

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