Student Health

College Partying: It’s a Family Affair

By Barry Bergman

Winter 2007 | When it comes to under-age drinking, says Karen Hughes, “there’s change under way in the Berkeley culture.” Hughes, a health educator at Berkeley’s Tang Center, University Health Services, explains that there’s a growing awareness of the problems that can result from under-age and binge drinking, from car crashes and property crimes to high-risk sex, violence, and suicide — not to mention economic costs amounting to billions of dollars annually for medical payments, work loss, and other societal impacts.

The Berkeley campus, she says, is the nexus for a burgeoning network of overlapping initiatives designed to serve as a safety net for students, from stepped-up education on the risks of irresponsible drinking to beefed-up enforcement of alcohol-related laws and regulations.

Hughes has been actively seeking out students — in places like busy Sproul Plaza and inside the Bear’s Lair, a popular hangout for undergraduates — to let them know about Cal’s new “Party Safe” campaign, designed to alert students to the laws and penalties for drinking in Berkeley. The campaign’s website also features tips on being responsible party hosts, guests, and neighbors. And Hughes is looking for other, creative ways to let students and parents alike know about not only the dangers of under-age drinking but about safer alternatives.

During Welcome Week 2006, for example, she and her colleagues reached out to Cal undergrads with information about alcohol-free late-night activities on and around campus. Many students, she reports, were grateful to learn about ways to have fun without drinking, and she’s looking for ways to keep the information flowing. The idea, she says, is to “turn Welcome Week into Welcome Year.”

If there’s one key ingredient that’s still missing at this point, says Hughes, “it’s parents.” Though parents may feel caught between wanting to hold on and letting go, she says it’s vital that they communicate expectations and ask questions that explore the alcohol culture and settings experienced by their children.

“When you’re talking about events they attend, you can inquire whether none, some, or all tend to involve or revolve around alcohol,” she says. “Have they noticed pressure either to drink or not to drink where they are living? Mention that you’ve heard about the extra alcohol enforcement around campus — have they heard or noticed it? Research has shown that thoughtful, curious parent communications related to alcohol in their young adults’ life can be invaluable.”

Parents are encouraged to boost their own alcohol IQ by taking an online education tutorial, AlcoholEdu, that’s now required of every incoming Berkeley student. The program can be found at alcoholedu.berkeley.edu.

Among the other anti-abuse initiatives is the Chancellor’s Task Force on Student/Neighbor Relations, which was launched in the spring of 2005 to address concerns over student rowdiness on the campus’s south side. The task force, made up of campus and city officials, Berkeley students, and community representatives, takes a comprehensive approach to the problem of alcohol abuse, employing the full toolkit of enforcement, outreach, and education.

Campus officials are also working with the city of Berkeley on a “second response” ordinance aimed at holding landlords responsible for abuses in houses they rent to students, with fines increasing each time police are called to the scene of an out-of-control party.

“There are so many students who don’t drink,” Hughes observes. “But those who do cause significant problems.”

She recommends that all concerned parents and students check out the campus’s new “PartySafe” website — PartySafe.berkeley.edu — for an introduction to Berkeley’s efforts to get college drinking under control. A wide array of prevention and intervention services is available through University Health Services, 510/642-7202.