My Two Cents

Dry CSI

April 24, 2007 at 2:12 am (Uncategorized)

Due to the fact that CSI is a dry campus and is a commuter school, drinking on campus is not much of an issue.  However, it is a bigger issue than I suspected on other campuses around the country.  When one attends the

College of
Staten Island, it’s easy to succumb to the bubble disease; or when one thinks that nothing exists outside the campus.  It was quite interesting to hear about what other college campuses were doing about this issue, such as the campaign “Party Smart” in Boston and “Dirk” in
Ohio. 

I also found interesting the fact that most college students overestimate the number of other students who drink heavily.  In an attempt to conform to these believed norms, students will stabilize the high-risk drinking rate or increase it.  Incoming freshman are particularly vulnerable in conforming to this believed norm.  However, commuter schools such as CSI do not really have this problem as I believe that dorm schools have more of an on-campus drinking issue.  I did not expect this fact as I would have assumed that students at dorm schools would know the drinking habits of their peers as opposed to a commuter school where drinking habits are displayed off campus.

In one instance in the article, DeJong and his colleague note the fact that college students tend to take their health for granted.  I wholeheartedly agree with this as most college age students believe themselves to be invincible, with the mentality of…”that can’t happen to me.” 

Additionally, the website “hadenough.org” was an interesting concept.  In my opinion, websites are the best way to reach college students in combination with the clever ads that posed a multiple choice question that focused on drinking. 

In reference to maximizing media exposure, repetition is a smart choice in getting the word out.  It is through repetition that most people learn new things and it is also the way in which a marketer would sell a new product.  Once college students see clever ads more than a few times, it increases curiosity to find out more about what the ad is actually trying to tell them.

Last semester, CSI held an alcohol awareness week.  The

Health
Center handed out surveys to students questioning them on what they knew about the effects and secondary effects of high-risk drinking as well as the habits of their peers.  Surprisingly enough, most of the students that were questioned knew more than expected.  As far as I know, the rest of the week fizzled out due to lack of participation.