Incoming freshmen are now required to take an online alcohol awareness course and test that takes two to three hours.
When freshman Andrew Huang received mail from the university saying he “must” complete a three-hour online alcohol test, he thought, “Haven’t we been exposed to enough alcohol education in high school?”
The online test, administered through AlcoholEdu.com, is one recommendation by a task force the university created after numerous alcohol-related student hospitalizations and one death.
The online program is aimed at teaching college students the realities of alcohol use and its effect on the body through surveys, graphics and videos.
“We’re more interested in education than punishment,” said Vice President for Student Affairs Linda Clement.
University officials decided to ask all incoming freshmen to take the test after it was “successfully used with alcohol infractions in resident halls,” Clement said.
The online test has been used for alcohol-related disturbances and is already mandatory for all fraternity and sorority members.
Despite its educational value, students said they had already learned much of the information in high school.
“Quite honestly, I thought it was a lot of review stuff,” said freshman journalism major Raymond Curley. “I found myself letting it play through and then just not paying attention and taking the tests. I still passed on my first try.”
The website tests student knowledge about alcohol and takes into consideration height, weight and sex to calculate Blood Alcohol Content. The site walks students through numerous video chapters with college students discussing the effects of drinking.
Though the letter mailed to students says freshmen “must” take the test, Clement said officials only expect them to do it — there are no punishments if they don’t.
Melanie Killen, a professor for the Department of Human Development, said the program can definitely be effective because it’s repetitive, interactive and unlike traditional advertisements.
Freshman letters and sciences major Gianna Franzone echoed the thoughts of many students. She said initially it “seemed like an unnecessary task, [and] a waste of two hours.”
After taking the test, however, students acknowledged it was informative.
“I learned a lot of technical stuff, reinforcing my knowledge on BAC. I also learned a bit about the alcohol laws,” Huang, a letters and sciences major, said.
Responses to the survey are confidential, university officials said, because the test asks students about their drinking habits.
Clement said the data will be compiled and sent to the university so they can observe the overall results.
Killen said it will take time to measure the impact AlcoholEdu.com has on students, but expects the results to be positive.
Most high school students, she said, have not been exposed to enough information regarding the harmful effects of drinking alcohol.
Of the 4,100 incoming freshmen, more than 40 percent started the first phase of the course, which requires them to score at least 70 percent to pass.
The second phase of the course will only take about 20 minutes and can’t be taken until about 45 days after students finish the first part. The deadline for that story is Oct. 31.
