Informing, entertaining
Volume: XXIX ISSUE:
community
1974
DATE: 8 / 30 / 0 I
w w w . e 1 o 11 . e d u / p e n d u I u ni
Scare initiates alcohol discussion
Jennifer Guarino and
Elizabeth Sudduth
The Pendulum
Saturday at Freshman Convoca
tion, President Leo M. Lambert ad
dressed the class and their parents
about the effects that alcohol can
cause.
“Students, most of you don’t
have any idea about the destruction
you can inflict upon your own lives
and the lives of other after consum
ing large amounts of alcohol even
just once,” Lambert said.
Ironically, within 12 hours of the
convocation address, a freshman
student was in the hospital after
consuming a large amount of alco
hol. Her blood alcohol content was
.335, which is more than four times
the level of intoxication.
Smith Jackson, dean of students,
sent an e-mail to all students about
this life threatening incident. “Had
the student been left alone and not
taken to the hospital, it is likely she
would have not survived,” he said.
Rather than preparing and starting
the first day of class, Jackson said,
“I would be notifying you of the
death of a student on her first day
at Elon. We would be planning a
memorial service and feel sad for
the family and remorseful for the
unnecessary loss of a student.”
In his address to the students,
Lambert mentioned the accidental
death of an Elon student last Janu
ary in which there were reports of
heavy drinking. “She was one of
ours, and her loss devastated many
lives. Her death was even harder to
accept because it was in contradic
tion to how she lived.”
Lambert said he tackled this dif
ficult subject in his first address to
the class of 2005 and their parents
because he felt a personal responsi
bility as president of the university.
“I felt by not addressing it, is mak
ing a big statement in and of itself.
We had a student die last year. Fail
ing to address it would be an abdi
cation of my responsibility as presi
dent.”
Since his address, Lambert has
received positive feedback on his
expression of serious matter.
Lambert has spoken about alco
hol before and says he will take a
more active approach this year. He,
along with faculty on campus, are
opening communication to a sensi
tive issue.
The university’s position state
ment on alcohol states: “The use
of alcohol is not one of prohibition,
but education and accountability.
While we observe the law, our pri
mary appeal to students who choose
to drink is that they will make con
scious and low-risk choices that do
not diminish their success and the
Naaonal Aleomi staOsties
' Every year, college students spend $5.5 billion on alcohol, mostly
beer, mis is more than they spend on books^ soda pop, coffee,
juice and milk combined^ averaging $466 per student per year.
- College students drink an esttmot^ (bur billion cans of beer an
nually.
- Nearly half of all college students are binge drinkers.
“ Almost four percent of all college students drink alcohol daily.
- The number of college women who drink to get drunk has more
than tripled in the past ten years, rising from 10 percent to 35
percent.
Source: http;//www.glness.com/ndh$/stats.html
success of others.”
Elon’s reputation has changed
over the past 10 years which has
been noticeable in the academic
standing of the university. Lambert
said this change is directly related
to the use of alcohol by Elon stu
dents.
“Elon does a great job in chang
ing the culture by emphasizing what
we call positive norming,” he said.
“What we are trying to tell every
one is that at Elon, the norm is not
to get drunk, is not to abuse alco
hol to the point that you need to be
taken to the hospital and if you de
cide to use alcohol, you decide to
use it in moderation.”
Resa Walch, substance educator,
has surveyed Elon students’ behav
ior over four years and encouraged
low-risk drinking. “Elon is a car
ing community and I think we are
really becoming a culture where it
is not OK to let friends drink to get
drunk or stand by when alcohol use
is destructive,” she said.
Although this attitude of low-
risk drinking is prevalent among
Elon students, both Lambert and
Walch say there are students who
make high-risk choices.
“We have an approach that is
working,” Walch said, “but I also
think we need to be prepared to deal
with outrageous situations.” For
this reason, every other year since
1997, Elon has administered a na
tional alcohol and drug survey. The
CORE Survey is widely used at
colleges and universities to deter
mine attitudes, beliefs and behav
iors. This has identified specific ar
eas for improvement.
“Research is very clear that Elon
students believe drinking is more
pervasive than it actually is,” Walch
said. “Elon is not the kind of com
munity that will turn its head when
students do drink high-risk and we
do have too many that drink high-
risk, but most students make con
scious low risk decisions.”
See ALCOHOL
page 11
Jennifer Guarino/ Managing Editor
On a day of new beginnings, a freshmen received an acorn to
symbolize the planting of a education that will grow over the next
four years.
Freshmen convocation marks
start of new academic year
Elizabeth Sudduth
News Editor
Students and their parents gath
ered “Under the Oaks” for a tradi
tional ceremony marking their en
trance into the Elon community.
Trey Bolton, president of the
Student Government Association
welcomed the class.
“Enjoy your college experi
ence,” Bolton said. “Today is the
day you have yet to live, make the
most of it and it will make the most
of you.”
Dr. Smith Jackson, dean of stu
dents and vice president for student
life and Provost Gerald Francis in
troduced the Class of 2005 and
both spoke of the diversity and tal
ent that greatly enriches the new
freshman class.
President Leo M. Lambert ad
dressed the students keeping his
message focused and built around
one question: “What do you really
need to know on your first day at
Elon?” Lambert stressed to the new
students to take advantage of their
academic opportunity. “The world
needs great teachers, honest busi
nessmen and women and hard
working journalists. We pride our
selves at Elon on educating many
students for the professions,” Lam
bert said.
See CONVOCATION
page 11