By Joann Groff
Assistant News Editor
Drunken driving. Binge drinking. Designer drugs.
These are some of the top concerns of the Seaver College administration after receiving the results of the 2003 Core Institute Alcohol and Drug Survey.
The good news? There are only a few concerns.
Almost every category, including drinking, tobacco use, attempted suicide, damaged property, even the number of students who experience hangovers, are significantly less than those tallied around the nation.
Dr. Mark Davis, dean of Student Affairs, said the 22 percent of Pepperdine students who responded offered some hope.
“While we need to be cautious about generalizing the results of the survey because of the low response rate,” Davis said, “I am thankful to see that the levels of alcohol and drug abuse at Seaver College are significantly below the national average and are at a 10-year low from previous Pepperdine surveys.”
These mostly positive results are a breath of fresh air after a survey released two years ago left administrative officials highly concerned.
Administrators were displeased to say the least when Harvard University’s College and Alcohol Survey (CAS), a nationally respected compilation of responses Harvard collects from schools across the United States, was published in 2001. The study showed 50 percent of Pepperdine students were binge drinking (having four to five drinks at one sitting) in a two-week period, and 41.4 percent of students had driven after drinking within one month of taking the survey.
The new results tell a different story, which may be because the Harvard survey did not have as much participation. Perhaps the composition of Pepperdine’s student body has changed since 2001. Either way, Core results report the binge-drinking percentage has been nearly cut in half, and is down to 25.9 percent.
The question regarding driving under the influence was worded differently in the Core survey. As opposed to drinking and driving in the last month, which is what the Harvard study asks, the Core survey asked for students responses on drinking and driving in the previous two weeks. With that in mind, the number is down to 29.2 percent.
Davis said, although these numbers are significantly lower than in the past, they are still too high.
“Although we are encouraged by the positive findings relative to past trends and national benchmarks, we must still be resolved to lower the levels of high-risk drinking,” he said. Davis pointed out that 1,400 college students are killed and 500,000 unintentionally injured because of excessive drinking. “Again, we are below the national average, but not enough … We had four incidents on or near campus this past year, one resulting in injury. Life is too precious to take these senseless risks.”
Among these risks is one that seems to be sorely out of place in the nearly drug-free results: designer drugs like Ecstasy or MDMA. Pepperdine is a school where the peer-pressure regarding illegal drugs is generally negative, as is evident in survey results showing 93 percent of students said their friends would disapprove if they smoked marijuana regularly and almost 94 percent if they tried cocaine or LSD even once. Results show the lifetime prevalence of all drugs, including cocaine, sedatives, hallucinogens and inhalants, are lower than the national average. There is only one exception, which claims the national average of students having tried designer drugs (5.6 percent) is lower than that of those of Pepperdine students (8 percent).
“There is a stereotype that Pepperdine students have more money, for some reasons, because, it’s true — they do,” Davis said. “Whether that’s a factor in this, I’m not sure.”
Davis also pointed out that the national average was calculated between 1995 and 1997, so they may be outdated. In other words, if the national average has risen, Pepperdine students may not exceed it.
Results found in a 2000 Bureau of Justice Statistics survey said 9.1 percent of college students had taken ecstasy in the past year, meaning all the national averages may be outdated, and Pepperdine students may dip even more below other college students in the nation.
In response to the survey, Davis is introducing the Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse Prevention Action Plan, which calls for the hiring of an associate dean of students to oversee health, counseling and career centers, a full-time counselor who is an expert in intervention and treatment and a full-time student heath educator.
In addition to the new staff, Davis wants to start a task force to chart progress, plan more social and recreational activities on campus and increase the publicity of alcohol and drug policies.
“We want to help students,” Davis said. “It’s not about the numbers, or our image — it’s about their image, keeping their body healthy, the way God intended it to be.”
September 25, 2003