Deaths from alcohol increasing on campus

The quote from Matthew Doak should have read “A non-alcoholic person has a choice and they can stop themselves at any point.”

Some MSU students said that drinking games may lead to alcohol abuse, while others say they are only part of the problem.

Federal records show that 157 college-age people, aged 18-23, drank themselves to death from 1999-2005, according to an analysis by The Associated Press. Alcohol poisoning deaths rose from 18 in 1999 to 35 in 2005.

Megan Colella, a first-year medical student, said she doesn’t often play drinking games, but will occasionally play beer pong or flip cup.

“Because it’s a game environment or competition, you’re compelled to keep going,” she said. “You want to be on top at the end of the night. So you end up drinking more than you realize you are.”

Colella said drinking games could also be a fun way to relax at the end of a week.

“You just have to find a balance,” she said.

Up to 75 percent of accidental deaths among college-age students are alcohol-related, said Dr. Beth Alexander, a university physician.

“The number one cause of premature death in the college-age group is alcohol-related accidents,” she said.

“Between 15 and 24 (year olds) believes that this is development. They believe they’re invincible and there’s a lot of peer pressure to drink and get drunk.”

Having conversations about alcohol abuse and having the courage to leave a bar or choose not to drive are the best ways to prevent premature death, she said.

Matthew Doak, a psychology junior, said drinking games are part of the problem, but not totally responsible for the number of students who abuse alcohol.

“An alcoholic person has a choice and they can stop themselves at any point,” he said. “If they’re going to get drunk, they’re going to get drunk no matter what.”

And although many MSU students abuse alcohol, MSU is not that much different than other universities, he said.

Jon Kermiet, a health educator for Olin Health Center, said research conducted by the National Collegiate Health Assessment Survey since 2000 indicates that 77 percent of college-aged students do not drink more than four drinks when they party.

“That’s kind of myth (that most students abuse alcohol),” he said.

“It’s perpetuated all the time.”

But Terri Brinks, a human biology senior, said she has both abused alcohol and watched her friends abuse alcohol on several occasions. “It comes to a mob mentality,” she said.

Brinks added that games involving beer may be safer than just taking shots.

David Hadley, manager of Woody’s Oasis Bar & Grill, 211 E. Grand River Ave., said the bar, as a part of the Responsible Hospitality Council, will ask customers who are visibly intoxicated to leave the restaurant.

Signs of intoxication include having trouble speaking, focusing, walking or holding one’s head up.

And policies are even stricter for those coming in for their 21st birthday.

“We’ll find out where they’ve been beforehand, call and see if there’s been any problems before that and then when they leave, we usually try to determine where they’re going and call that establishment,” he said.