By Barbara Ortutay
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
Drinking at UCLA is not much different from other college
campuses. In addition to Thursday night fraternity parties,
students find places and occasions to drink and be merry in
Westwood bars, apartments and even in the residence halls.
“It’s always around,” said third-year theater
student Jason Liou of alcohol availability around campus.
Meanwhile, campus administrators and officials seek ways to curb
underage drinking and to prevent alcohol poisoning.
“Any college town you go to you’ll have underage
drinking,” said Peter Dell, manager of UCLA’s Emergency
Medical Services. “A lot of the calls we get ““ I would
say over half ““ are underage drinkers.”
EMS received 67 alcohol-related calls in the past year,
according to Dell ““ 21 of these were in the residence halls,
21 on city property, and the rest in various places on campus.
For some students, college provides a new set of freedoms
““ including drinking.
“It’s (students’) first time away from home,
first time away from direct parental supervision,” Dell
said.
EMS receives calls for alcohol-related incidents ranging from
nausea and vomiting, which is the most common, to people who are
unconscious.
Although not every drunk student will reach that point, alcohol
poisoning is a concern for housing officials and university
administrators.
Last year, Chancellor Albert Carnesale was among 113 university
presidents and chancellors who signed on to a national advertising
campaign to curb binge drinking.
But the efforts to keep drinking students safe do not end with
the chancellor.
“We want students to make healthy and responsible
choices,” said Amy Gershon, judicial affairs coordinator for
the Office of Residential Life.
In the residence halls, students are allowed to have alcohol
“in the privacy of their own room,” Gershon said
“As soon as it’s visible from the outside,
it’s a violation of policy,” she added. “Students
can’t have the door open. They can’t be walking down
the hallway with an open container.”
On-Campus Housing policy also prohibits residents from having
“bulk alcohol,” which can range from a keg to a large
bottle of vodka, and if alcohol is present in a dorm room, no more
than two guests per resident can be present in the room, Gershon
said.
Both Dell and Gershon agreed that what constitutes responsible
drinking varies from one individual to another. Dell said it
depends on family history, and a person’s size, weight and
alcohol tolerance.
“Our definition of it would be not drinking to the point
of getting transported to ER or getting sick in the
bathroom,” Gershon said.
After passing the threshold from responsible drinking to getting
sick, the next danger is alcohol poisoning.
Alcohol poisoning is a clinical term used by physicians to refer
to someone who has so much alcohol in their system that it starts
to affect their major organs.
“It can shut down breathing and it can cause severe liver
damage,” Dell said.
He urges students to call an ambulance if they suspects someone
may be a victim of alcohol poisoning, even if they are in doubt
about how serious the condition is.
Contrary to popular belief, parents will not be notified if a
student is taken to the emergency room for alcohol poisoning.
“If you are over 18, there is something called patient
confidentiality, and it’s up to the patient whether they want
to disclose it or not,” Dell said.
Although this may assuage some students’ fears about
calling an ambulance, there is still the bill to pay.
“Insurance is another issue. Transportation on an
ambulance is not cheap,” Dell said.
Once the ambulance arrives, four questions are used to determine
whether a person will be transported to the emergency room.
“We use four basic questions to determine level of
consciousness: the person’s name, where they are,
approximately what time it is and if they know what happened to
them,” Dell said. “If they can’t answer these
four simple questions, we are obligated by law to take them to
EMS.”
Once in the emergency room, patients are often put in bed to
sober up, and an IV is commonly used to re-hydrate them.
If the alcohol poisoning is severe, patients may have their
stomach pumped. If they have stopped breathing, a tube is placed
down their throat to aid breathing.
Incidents of alcohol poisoning constitute only a fraction of
students’ experiences with alcohol. Many students choose to
limit their consumption or not to drink at all.
The most recent survey available about alcohol use among UCLA
students was conducted by Student Health Services in 1995.
One-third of those who responded said they had engaged in binge
drinking within the two weeks prior to the survey.
Binge drinking is commonly defined as consuming four or more
drinks in a row for women, and five or more for men. The study also
found that about 1/3 of students don’t drink at all, despite
stereotypes about the prevalence of alcohol on university
campuses.
Nationwide, an ongoing Harvard survey of 15,000 students at 140
college campuses found that California college students drink and
binge drink less frequently than the rest of the nation. This may
be due to the fact that college students in California are older,
more likely to be married and live off campus, the study found.
Nevertheless, UCLA students are often the primary patrons of the
bars around campus.
“Late Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights, most of our
patrons are college kids,” said Laura McLeod, manager of
Westwood Brewing Company.
To discourage underage drinking, Westwood Brewing Company checks
the IDs of anyone entering the bar after 10 p.m. who looks under
30, McLeod said. Those without a valid ID are not allowed in.
During the day, bartenders and servers card those who order alcohol
if they look under 30 as well.
“Our policy is no underage drinking.” McLeod
said.
Nonetheless, drinking ““ whether legal or underage ““
may be a quintessential part of the college experience.
“It’s a way for strangers to get to know each other
and to get together and have a common bond,” Liou said.