Undergraduates will have the opportunity to fill out the second Core Alcohol and Drug Survey when the Office of the Dean of Students administers the survey to various undergraduate classes starting today.
Surveys will be distributed to classes in all six schools that represent all four years of undergraduate students, according to Sara Waldron, associate dean of students.
"We stress that 'Core' is voluntary and anonymous, and we encourage students to take it to give us a better picture of what's going on at AU," Waldron said. "Drugs and alcohol result in most deaths on college campuses. ... We have been lucky at AU, and we'd like to keep things that way and prevent such a tragedy from happening."
After AU distributed the first Core Alcohol and Drug Survey in spring 2002, 93 percent of students surveyed perceived that students were out drinking all the time. Data from the survey concluded that 68 percent of students had zero to five drinks per week. One in four, or 25 percent, of AU students don't drink at all, Waldron said.
"Students think that their fellow students are drinking at much higher rates than actually are," Waldron said.
The 2002 survey results also include a section with secondhand factors, such as statistics from students who are disrupted by intoxicated roommates or residents of their hall.
Drinking was linked to other problems as well. "100 percent of sex assaults involved alcohol and drugs with the partner," Waldron said, citing information from the 2002 survey. "That is an alarming statistic."
The survey also questions students on marijuana and other drug use.
The Office of Campus Life uses the information it receives to tailor its programming to the survey results. For instance, if the office find out that the majority of alcohol users on campus are junior men and freshmen women, they target that specific group, Waldron said.
Faye Karabelski, a freshman in the College of Arts and Sciences, said she will fill out the survey if she gets the opportunity to.
"It might be beneficial depending on how the administration used it," Karabelski said. "The administration could use the survey results for education and prevention programs, campus awareness on the topics and possible rule changes depending on the results received."
Cosima Wadwha, a sophomore in the School of Communication, also said she would fill out the survey.
"It would be beneficial to see what other students think about drugs and alcohol, especially since our campus is dry," Wadwha said.
Corey Murphy, a senior in the School of International Service, said the survey would provide useful information at no cost to the student who is taking the survey.
"It is not invasive at all if done confidentially. ... I see no harm in it, being that current polices allow for activities off campus to be legal," Murphy said.
"Therefore, I am inclined to believe that the survey would not be harmful to the community and the data could be useful to the AU community if it shows a trend that university policy could tailor to solve."
The Office of Campus Life will release the results to the AU community and may bring it up in Public Safety meetings, according to Folckemer.
Disciplinary action for alcohol violations has decreased per year overall, going from 306 violations in 2001 to 452 in 2002 and 200 in 2003.
From Jan. 1, 2004 through Feb. 4, 2005, AU had a total of 151 hospital transports and 42 alcohol violations, Public Safety Sgt. Gary Folckemer said. The hospital transports were the result of a variety of causes such as injuries, illnesses or alcohol.
Drug law violations on main campus also decreased, going from 141 on-campus disciplinary actions or violations in 2001 to 142 in 2002 and 57 in 2003, The Eagle previously reported.
