When water’s better than alcohol…

When water is SO much better than alcohol…
Don’t laugh – this is a serious topic…serious because the abuse of one has had such dire consequences in people’s lives. Speaking to a friend of mind who recently started drinking, I had to ask her, “girl, after so many years of being sober, what finally made you turn to the bottle?” I sat there waiting to hear some life changing and heart-ripping story. Instead she turned around and proclaimed, “I just got thirsty!” Thirsty? Whatever happened to drinking some good old water?
Alcohol consumption on campus is a very serious past time. Students allocate more drinking (and entertainment) money in their budget than anything else. Why is that? Could it be the peer pressure…because everyone IS doing it? Could it be the lack of extra-mural activities on campus that students would rather gather around for a round of drinks? Is it the rebellion, or “amazing” feeling one gets after having a couple?
We all know that “too much of a good thing is bad”…but in this case, “too much alcohol is detrimental! Another blog for another day will dissect the dangers of alcohol, and more importantly, the dangers of binging!


Juraj Filip

http://www.studentnews.co.za/selfhelp/when-waters-better-than-alcohol/

Alcohol may be factor in MSU student's death

EAST LANSING (AP) -- Police still are investigating the weekend death of a 22-year-old Michigan State University student found unresponsive in his East Lansing fraternity house.

Police tell the Lansing State Journal that the student may have been drinking and that alcohol may have played a role in his death. Foul play is not suspected.

The student is from Adrian and his name is expected to be released Monday.

A roommate at the Alpha Gamma Rho house called 911 after finding the student early Saturday morning in his bedroom. Firefighters treated him there, but the student later was pronounced dead at a Lansing hospital.


Juraj Filip

http://www.uppermichiganssource.com/news/story.aspx?id=381048

Student found unresponsive on couch; alcohol believed to be involved in death

22-year-old MSU student who was found unresponsive this morning in his Alpha Gamma Rho fraternity bedroom was pronounced dead later this morning at Lansing’s Sparrow Hospital, East Lansing police Lt. Kevin Daley said.

The student, an Adrian, Mich., man, was found by his roommate, who called police at about 5:39 a.m. Police found him lying on a couch in his bedroom. He was treated by police and transported to Lansing’s Sparrow Hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.

The cause of death is unknown, but alcohol appears to be involved and foul play does not appear to be a factor, Daley said.

_Check back at statenews.com throughout the weekend for more on this story.
_

Juraj Filip

http://www.statenews.com/index.php/article/2009/11/student_found_unresponsive_on_couch_alcohol_believed_to_be_involved_in_death

Alcohol Licensing Committee to Add Student Voter in Wisconsin

Madison, Wis., is known as a great college town that treats University of Wisconsin students as citizens of the city and part of community. And now, students will have a voice—and a vote—on the city's Alcohol Licensing Review Committee, reports the Badger Herald.

The committee currently has a nonvoting student member who was appointed by the University of Wisconsin's Association of Students of Madison. But Alderman Bryon Eagon pushed for a change in the committee's makeup, wanting to eliminate the nonvoting position in favor of a voting position held by a student from the University of Wisconsin, Madison Area Technical College, or Edgewood College, according to the Capital Times, Madison's daily newspaper.

The Badger Herald report says that there was some concern among committee members that a student under the legal drinking age of 21 could vote with the panel. Current Madison law allows anyone 18 or older to serve on the City Council and its committees.

"We are assuming that they're going to be breaking the law," Alderman Judy Compton tells the Badger Herald. "That is the wrong thing for us as lawmakers to do."

In contrast, Eagon told the Badger Herald that having an underage student "would bring a unique prospective due to their underage status."

Either way, committee members agreed, it's important to have on the board a college student living in Madison.

"I'm always amazed by the amount of great input and insight that [the students] have," one committee member says. "I am looking forward to seeing the change that this could make to the discussions in the ALRC."

Juraj Filip

http://www.usnews.com/blogs/paper-trail/2009/10/08/alcohol-licensing-committee-to-add-student-voter-in-wisconsin.html

Campus alcohol violations are down, but drug violations are up

The Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security and Campus Crime Statistics Act, which reports trends and incidences of crime on campus, has been released for 2009.

The Clery report contains “information about crime on or near respective campuses,” says Federal Statute 20 U.S.C. 1092(f.).

These crimes include everything ranging from homicide, to sexual offenses to drug violations to parking violations.
The report is federally mandated for, “all colleges and universities that participate in federal financial aid programs,” says the statute.

Carol Quiring, administrative lieutenant of Campus Safety and Police, compiles the annual report. “The Clery Reort is useful to compare different institutions that you’re considering attending,” says Quiring.

By becoming aware of the types and frequency of crimes around campus, students can obtain powerful knowledge about their surrounds, according to Quiring.



Juraj Filip

http://roughwriter.yc.edu/2009/11/campus-alcohol-violations-are-down-but-drug-violations-are-up/

Teacher Gave Alcohol To Student Who Got DUI

OVIEDO, Fla. -- A Seminole County high school teacher quit amid allegations she got students drunk and let one student drive her SUV while he was drunk. Investigators are not saying what kind of relationship Oviedo High School teacher Meredith Witt had with the student.

Oviedo High School student Dylan Ferguson, 18, was arrested and charged with DUI after he crashed the SUV he was driving into two parked cars along Horseman Drive in Oviedo Wednesday night. The Honda SUV belonged to Witt.

http://www.wftv.com/news/21528863/detail.html

Juraj Filip