Jessica Delgado

English 113A
Professor Rosenfield
16 November, 2016
The Students Are To Blame

Research shows that two out of five college students drink on campus. Binge drinking is
typically when the body intakes an excessive amount of alcohol in a brief timeframe. Binge drink
is not hard to do if you take more than four shots within a two hour time frame is considered
binge drinking. Administration should not have to spent their time on imiture underaged college
drinkers; who do not focus on their education and do not care what happens to their body when
they do binge drink. The students who choses to binge drink are making an adult decisions,
which may include adult consequences. Kevin Sliman explains in a Penn State news ; Probing
Question: How Serious Is the Binge Drinking Problem on College Campuses, "Students who are
binge drinking with great frequency tend to be far more suicidal than their peers who are binge
drinking less frequently or not at all, they also tend to have greater mental health concerns such
as depression and anxiety, and they often struggle academically". Administration can not police
80% of the student body, nor can they help the atmosphere the students are exposed to outside
the lecture hall; most students are exposed to hard liquor and binge drinking in their first years of
college. Every college student has their own personal life, the college administration can not
watch what students buy and put in their body.

Although binge drinking can cause serious mental and physical health effects, the
administration can do anything except hope that the students they have enrolled in their
university are not taking advantage of the freedom they have away from home. If you have a

high blood alcohol level you may experience blurred vision and major loss of balance. Most
people end up having to vomit from feeling dizzy. The gag reflex is weak and you can choke on
your vomit. After vomiting people tend to blackouts due to dehydration and loss of body fluids.
Other times a student may be too drunk and wander away from the party, which is being
intoxicated in public, that is a misdemeanor crime under state and local law. The student may
have to spend the night in jail. Drinking can also make you do things you would not normally do
while you are sober. The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism reports About
696,000 students between the ages of 18 and 24 are assaulted by another student who has been
drinking. About 97,000 students between the ages of 18 and 24 report experiencing alcoholrelated sexual assault or date rape. Drinking can make students aggressive towards small
problems and their reaction is passive aggressive.

There is no stopping a student who is frantically under the influence because most
students see drinking as a rite of passage. Fraternities have traditional parties and events all the
time. I once went to a fraternity mixer and as the night went on the more drinks the students got
in there system. Shot after shot as everyone got a little lose the small intimate mixer turned into a
house party. One of the frat boys that I had saw taking several shots early was all riled up
outside wanting to fight some other guy in his fraternity. All of his friends tried to calm him
down but he really was not budging. He got so fed up and he had a lot of alcohol in his system he
started throwing up all the beer and liquor he consumed earlier that night. So the party was shut
down and everyone was kicked out. This incident happened outside of the college campus on a
private residence. So there was no way of that the college could have prevented this incident
from happening.

The administration can only provide alternative activities on campus like study groups,
clubs and social gatherings like Csun does when they hold the Big Show every year, which is a
concert held on one of the fields on campus. Although the concert does require an entrance fee, it
is an alternative to a college party. Most students may still choose the less expensive option.
Partying in college is also looked as the traditional thing to do while you spend the next four
years going to school. In the Article Binge Drinking Must Be Stopped written by Henry
Wechsler notes that, an incoming freshman learns during the first week of school where the
alcohol and parties are often has binge drinking experience even before purchasing a textbook.
College is where you meet you life long friends or your soulmate, so why not go to the party,
right? Administration can not control the stubborn minds of the generation of new adults, but
they can only help guide them down the right path.

College administrations job on campus includes providing education and guiding their
students down the path of success. If theses students making the irresponsible choice of binge
drinking one night at a party there's no one really to blame except themselves. About 1 in 4
college students report academic consequences from drinking, including missing class, falling
behind in class, doing poorly on exams or papers, and receiving lower grades overall.(College
fact sheet) With consequences like these you would think students would change their bad habits.
The first two months of beginning freshman can be very overwhelming. Students will continue
being highly influenced by the people around them, so administrations should not be blamed for
the irresponsible choices theses students make behind closed doors.

Works cited

College Drinking Fact Sheet - Pubs.niaaa.nih.gov. College Fact Sheet ,

Goshgarian, Gary et al. Dialogues: an Argument Rhetoric and Reader. New York, Longman,
2000.

Strauss, Valerie, editor. How Much Do College Students Really Drink? Washington Post, The
Washington Post, 9 Apr. 2013, www.washingtonpost.com/news/answersheet/wp/2013/04/09/how-much-do-college-students-really-drink/.

Sliman, By Kevin. Probing Question: How Serious Is the Binge Drinking Problem on College
Campuses? | Penn State University. Probing Question: How Serious Is the Binge Drinking
Problem on College Campuses? | Penn State University, 5 Sept. 2013,
news.psu.edu/story/286174/2013/09/05/research/probing-question-how-serious-binge-drinkingproblem-college.
.