Wednesday, September 16, 2015 • page 5
News
A refreshing take on alcohol consumption
Lori Hart visits Elon to discuss students ’ alcohol choices
PHOTO COURTESY OF ALPHA OMICRON PI
Lori Hart spoke to an audience of Elon students Sept. 10 at Whitley Auditorium about the effects of binge drinking and overconsumption of alcohol on their future goals and dreams in life.
Sophia Asmuth
Multimedia Editor
CAMPUSPEAK’s Lori Hart ended her talk, “A Few
Too Many: Our Campus Culture of Alcohol,” with one
crucial piece of advice: “Use [your bowels] as any excuse
to get out of an uncomfortable drug-related situation.”
“Let’s be real,” Hart said, “No one has ever looked at
a friend and said, ‘Stay, we’ll clean up your [expletive].”’
Students filled Elon University’s Whitley Auditorium
Sept. 10 as Hart took a humorous approach to alcohol
choices. She encouraged students to “begin with the end
in mind” and picture their future 10 years from now. The
audience shared their future aspirations of world travel,
financial stability, romantic relationships and dog own
ership.
“If you are a person in this room that drinks alco
hol and does drugs, I want you to think about what you
clapped for and how these drugs affect that goal,” Hart
said.
Nothing Hart said was new. She summarized the five
factors that affect blood alcohol content: quantity of al
cohol, rate of consumption, weight, the amount of time
taken to drink the alcohol and the gender of the con
sumer. She went on to explain a 1993 Harvard study that
produced the term “binge drinking” — the consumption
of five or more drinks in one sitting.
“For such an overdone topic, she made it unique,” said
senior Evan Skloot, president of the Eta-Sigma Chapter
of Zeta Beta Tau at Elon.
Skloot said he was particularly impressed with Hart’s
ability to connect to both men and women.
.Elon was recently named the fourth safest college
town in the United States, according to Safe Wise. But
the consequences of binge drinking and overconsump
tion are still apparent.
“Alcohol-related crimes are the top [at Elon],” said
Mike Brewer, patrol lieutenant in the Town of Elon’s Po
lice Department. “Assaults and damage to property usu
ally occur from people who have been drinking alcohol.”
Senior FHicia Cenca, president of the Epsilon-Chi
chapter of Alpha Omicron Pi at Elon brought Hart to
the campus to have a realistic conversation about alcohol.
“The risks that come with alcohol use are hard to talk
about for many of us as students, but openly addressing it
seemed to be like one step in the right direction,” Cenca
said.
Hart addressed these risks with students by asking
them to list some. The first yelled: “Death.” The room
erupted in laughter. The next comment: “Sometimes, 1
feel alienated because 1 don’t drink.”
No one laughed.
Senior Conor Janda — part of the 20 percent of col
lege students who abstains from drinking, according to
the American College Health Association’s National
College Health Assessment from spring 2014 — agreed
that it can be difficult to be social and refrain from
drinking.
“I do not think that people explicitly or purposefully
alienate those who don’t drink, but drinking is so perva
sive in Elon’s culture that staying sober requires a certain
level of isolation,” Janda said.
“We all clap to the same tune ... We’re all looking to
build a life that we want,” Hart said. At this event, the
consumers, the abstainers, the sorority sisters, the frater
nity brothers — the Elon students — clapped together.
POLITICS
from cover
with college students who wonder what lies
beyond graduation.
The senator said that, for college graduates,
job prospects have improved from 2008 lows,
but there’s still a long way to go.
“If you are a college graduate, you are des
perately trying to find a job commensurate
with your education,” Sanders said. “And that
is often very hard to do.”
The disparity can be especially clear when
it comes to the cost of college.
Jax Preyer, a high school senior from Chap
el Hill who attended the speech, recently ap
plied to Elon to potentially join next year’s
freshman class. She called the cost of college
in the United States “completely absurd.”
Elon’s total cost of attendance this aca
demic year comes to S46,670, an increase of 3
percent from the year prior and a 27-year low
in terms of percentage increase.
“We’ve kind of been conditioned to feel
like it’s normal, but, really, we’ve been duped,”
said Preyer, 17, of the cost of college.
Preyer said Sanders’ policy line to her is
not radical, though she admitted she saw how
others could see the self-described socialist
in a different light. The senator reinforced
his claim that few of his ideas haven’t already
HALITAUXE | Photo Editor
More than 9,000 people attended Bernie Sanders’ rally Sunday, including many Elon students.
been done in another country, despite attacks
from Republicans who call his agenda radical
to the point of ridiculous.
Ideology aside, some say just voting is im
portant — no matter the candidate. Elon, like
many college campuses, can at times be apa
thetic when it comes to elections, said junior
June Shuler, a representative of Elon Votes, an
organization dedicated to civic engagement.
“Voting — no matter the party line —
matters,” Shuler said.
Tarasidis said that many students in Elon
College Republicans align themselves with
Marco Rubio and Jeb Bush, with others also
supporting John Kasich and Donald Trump,
who has received more support than expected.
Kane isn’t surprised by the rise of odd
ball candidates such as Trump and Sanders,
though. She said the uncharacteristic back
grounds and ideals of current front-runners
grab people’s attention.
The larger pool of candidates for voters
to choose from draws interest from a wider
range of people.
“It’s an exciting time because no matter
what your views are, you have an array of can
didates who any student can relate to,” Kane
said. “That’s creating more of a discussion on
campus.”
While political discussions on campus are
prominent right now as the country is at the
peak of watching for the next presidential
nominees, in non-election years, discussions
dip with the lack of attention.
“Elon’s political climate is similar to the
country in that the political climate increas
es around election year,” Bailey said. “I think
Elon does a good job of trying to engage
students in politics and trying to keep discus
sions open with panels on current events.”