Writer's note: Sarah chose not to disclose her last name.

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When *Sarah’s friend collapsed onto the floor of a Sixth Street club, she carefully carried her friend’s body into the bathroom, hoisted her on top of a toilet, splashed water on her face, and waited for her friend to regain consciousness.

 

She never called 911.

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By Mia Uhunmwuangho

Photo courtesy of UT Healthy Horns

 

Sarah and her friend’s drinking habits reflect the larger trend of binge drinking on college campuses, which university officials attempt to combat by educating students.

 

“She had a lot to drink that night,” said Sarah, a junior at the University of Texas at Austin, who preferred to keep her last name anonymous. “But we all did. We didn’t really think much of it.”

 

A study published by The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism in April reported that about 60 percent of college students ages 18 to 22 drank alcohol in the past month, and almost 40 percent of those who reported drinking in the past month reported binge drinking in the past 30 days.

 

“I didn’t really know that she, or either of us, had been binging,” Sarah said. “We drink like that all the time. But when she collapsed, I realized that we had gone overboard.”

 

Sarah said her friend consumed about six drinks before she collapsed, enough to confirm that she was binge drinking. The NIAAA defines binge drinking as a pattern of drinking that brings blood alcohol concentration in the body to 0.08, or four drinks for women, and five drinks for men.

 

“I think that a lot college students don’t really think about what they’re drinking,” Sarah said. “We just drink without being educated on how much to drink.”

 

UT recognizes the role that binge drinking plays on campus, and according to a February statement from UT System, the Board of Regents authorized $2.4 million to continue to fund and develop alcohol prevention, education and recovery programs at all UT academic campuses.

 

Funding will continue to support UT’s mandatory online alcohol education program, Think About It. The program is mandatory for all incoming freshman and transfer students under the age of 21.

 

“With over 10,000 incoming students, we know that there is a varied level of knowledge in regards to alcohol and its effects,” said William Mupo, project leader for Think About It.

 

Mupo said that the program doesn’t force a specific lifestyle on students. He said that its primary goal is to educate.

 

“We want to make students more aware of the resources that are available to them, whether or not they choose to drink,” Mupo said. “We want to debunk any myths that students might believe about alcohol and its effects.”

The Think About It program is only in its second year at UT, and Mupo said that there is currently no way to measure the program’s effectiveness. The program is required in the fall, but according to UT Police Department Officer William Robert Pieper, alcohol related incidents, like Sarah’s, have not decreased in the fall or spring semesters since the program’s inception.

 

“We see, more or less, alcohol related incidents occurring at all times during the year,” Pieper said.

 

While the number of incidents occurring may not be decreasing, Pieper said that there has been a change in the number of people who call to report those incidents.

 

“We see an increase in the number of students calling for other students, and I think this is because of alcohol amnesty,” Pieper said.

 

UT’s alcohol amnesty program helps students avoid formal university disciplinary action and the creation of a formal disciplinary record when they call for help for an alcohol medical emergency. Typical cases for amnesty may include possession or consumption of alcohol by a minor, or intoxication as a result of using alcohol.

 

“We remove barriers that prevent students from helping their friends, and each other, in the event of an alcohol related emergency,” said Sonica Reagins-Lilly, dean of students and senior associate vice president for student affairs.

 

Lilly said that the student affairs judicial board decides which cases qualify for amnesty. For the 2014-2015 school year, they granted amnesty to 25 cases.

 

“Our primary concern is care and safety for the students,” Lilly said. “It’s always ‘how can we stop the student from getting into this situation again?’”

 

Lilly said that UT will begin to promote the amnesty program more at orientation and at other student events to make students more aware of this resource.

 

Alcohol related incidents like Sarah’s are common on campus, but amnesty is designed to offer hope to students who may be too scared call for help when an emergency occurs.

 

“My friend woke up a few minutes after she passed out, but others aren’t so lucky,” Sarah said. “If I knew about amnesty, I definitely would’ve tried to get help.”