A recent survey that shows a high percentage of Hopkins students have been involved in alcohol-related or binge-drinking incidents has administrators worried about the health risks students are taking when they drink.
The results, part of the Harvard School of Public Health's 2005 College Alcohol Study, found that alcohol has a significant effect on the behavior of students, causing almost a quarter of the student body to "engage in unplanned sexual activity," one third to black out and 11 percent to drive under the influence of alcohol.
"When you look at the numbers, it is very scary," said Dr. Alain Joffe, director of the Student Health and Wellness Center.
"It reflects a number of students who are doing a fair amount of drinking and suffering the consequences."
According to a 2005 report by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), over 1,400 college students nationwide die each year in alcohol-related incidents, most of which are the result of accidents involving drunk drivers.
Additionally, out of 8 million college students in the United States, over 2 million say they occasionally drive under the influence of alcohol, while more than 3 million students ride with an intoxicated driver.
Hopkins is not excepted from this trend, with 11.7 percent of students having driven after drinking and 13.8 percent having ridden with a driver under the influence of either alcohol or illegal drugs.
"It's not the drinking I'm concerned about per se; I'm worried about what goes along with that drinking. ... Have a hangover, miss a class; not that big a deal," Joffe commented.
Sophomore Jillian Saperstein was surprised to hear that any student would drink and drive at all.
"Unless people are having alcohol poured down their throat, that's just really irresponsible. People should plan better because they're not only a danger to themselves, but everyone else on the road," she said.
Echoing her sentiment, junior James Barker said, "The drunk driving [statistic] surprises me, because everyone knows better."
Another consequence of heavy alcohol consumption, according to the study, is unplanned sexual activity, which often puts both students involved at risk for sexually transmitted diseases if proper precautions are not taken.
At Hopkins, 24.9 percent of students surveyed reported that drinking had caused them to participate in an unplanned sexual activity and 9.7 percent had not used protection when having sex.
However, Joffe cautioned that those numbers were "about what you would expect to see at other schools."
Barker wasn't surprised by these figures either: "Drinking is so prevalent that most everybody gets into it sooner or later, and good judgment goes to hell."
While the number of students who engage in unplanned sexual activity as a consequence of drinking might not be surprising, "blacking out," combined with sex, can be much more dangerous and risky.
Blacking out, or being unable to remember the events of a particular night due to concentrated alcohol consumption, was reported by 33.4 percent of Hopkins students in the past year.
"We have students coming in [to the Health and Wellness Center] getting STD testing who say, `I don't remember where I was or what I did last night.' ... That's pretty scary," Joffe said.
A random sample of 750 undergraduates, roughly but evenly distributed among the classes, was selected through the Registrar's database.
Of the 363 students who participated, 55.2 percent were male, 65.8 percent white, 28.3 percent involved in Greek Life and 45.9 percent lived off campus.
Despite what may seem like a small sample size, Joffe noted that he didn't expect much better results.
"I think 48.8 [percent response rate] is very good, it's not ideal. You'd like to see 60-70 percent, but for most colleges 48 percent is probably as good as you will get," he said.
The University has submitted these results to the Alcohol Task Force for use in finding new ways to educate students about the risks of binge drinking.
Saperstein explained that serving alcohol on campus seemed to be one way to prevent binge drinking incidents to occur.
"I think making HopStop back into a bar was a good idea; maybe that will decrease some of the traffic off-campus."
Joffe pointed out that in the end, his main goal is to keep students out of harm's way. "[Homewood Student Affairs'] major concern is the potential harm that can come to students. ... We really want people to be safe, that's the bottom line."
