By Sara Pintillie/reporter
Students learned the repercussions of excessive alcohol consumption in Binge Drinking Wednesday, March 7, on SE Campus.
Garrison Henderson, assistant professor of sociology on SE Campus, led a panel of professionals dealing with alcohol-related issues in the seminar. The panel included Carol Olivier, infection control manager of
MCA, and Larry Ellis, program director of Tarrant County Challenge Coalition.
Binge drinking is defined as five drinks in one outing for a male and four drinks for a female.
Ellis said it takes about an hour per drink for the alcohol to go through the body.
“ The textbook definition [of binge drinking] is an individual that just lets all attributes of life go for two weeks and concentrates the whole time on drinking,” he said.
A slide show revealed facts about alcohol and alcohol abuse.
According to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, 2.1 million students between the ages of 18 and 24 have driven under the influence of alcohol in the past six months.
According to a study done by Duke University in 2003, 40 percent of college students have experienced an alcohol-induced blackout in the past year.
A blackout is synonymous with a pilot maneuvering a jet during a blackout but having no memory of taking off, landing or even flying, according to a handout given to the students at the seminar.
“ That’s kind of scary isn’t it? You have no idea how you got to a certain destination and you have no idea what actually happened,” Henderson said. “Some people wake up in jail and they really don’t know why.”
Henderson and the panel explained the domino effect of binge drinking and behaviors associated with binge drinking, such as violence, verbal altercations, drug use and unplanned and unprotected sex.
“ With binge drinking, you let your hair down and you let your inhibitions go,” Olivier said. “It’s a horrible price to pay afterward. We call sexually transmitted diseases the gift that keeps giving and giving and giving.”
Ellis said about 400,000 reported sexual assaults among college student happen each year, many dealing with the influence of alcohol.
“ Realistically, I can’t come in and talk to [college students] and say ‘just say no’ because I would look like an idiot,” he said. “But there is a responsibility that comes with [drinking]. If you are going to use [alcohol], use it smart.”
