cal-cohol

What Do You Think of Cal?

2010-04-05T22:43:00.000-07:00

With college acceptance season in full tow, many of my underclassman friends from high school who were recently admitted to Cal are asking me what its like to go to school to here. I feel like a cyber tour guide, but it's kind of nice to reflect on my past year at a new school, new environment, and new lifestyle with new expectations.

Of all the people who asked me about life at Cal, not one asked me about the party scene here. Perhaps it's because people who know me are well aware that I am not one to party. But perhaps it's because there's a squeaky-clean image of Berkeley students who study all day long and never get wasted on the weekends.

Dear prospective and current college students around the world, this is not so.

It is absolutely true that we have amazing academic progams at this university (Go Bears!) and that most of the students here were top students at their respective high schools who were hard-working and over-achieving. This doesn't mean that we aren't young adults who like to have fun, blow off steam, and occasionally get in a little bit of trouble.

What contributes to this image of Cal as "not" a party school?

Maybe you know someone who goes/went to Cal, and maybe your perception of Cal is influenced by what you think of that person. Maybe you've heard of the Vietnam War protests that occurred here in 1970's, and maybe you think Cal is full of hippies and student activists who are more concerned with causes than kegs. Maybe you heard about the recent riots and protests over budget cuts in public education, and maybe you think we spend our nights smashing store windows and setting dumpsters on fire instead of getting drunk.

Sure, these might sound silly, but I think even the smallest jokes can carry truth in us, subconciously. They shape the way we perceive a certain school, often more than we know.

"But why does this matter?" you might say. "Isn't it a good thing not to be labeled as a party school?"

I suppose it is nice not to be labeled in such a manner. But at the same time, the Cal campus suffers from alcohol problems just like any other college campus does. There are dangerous practices being conducted off campus at a party, alcohol poisonings occuring, health problems silently but surely developing, and once-in-a-lifetime opportunities traded away for a night of jello shots. The intentional lack of a "party school" label does promote commitment to academic excellence, but it also masks the alcohol issues Cal faces and keeps them in the dark. Does this mean we should start branding Cal as a party school? Certainly not. But we should definitely recognize this school needs help - it is no more sober, no cleaner, no better than any other school.

I am not one to judge the decisions my fellow students make, because I will surely make the same mistakes if put in a similar situation. However, when the livelihood and health of our classmates are suffering because of misinformation and ignorance, how can we stay silent?

- Clare

Sober Weekend

2010-03-13T22:51:00.000-08:00

You know how Google has a new development where you can start typing in a search, and it'll pop up some related commonly searched words? I was trying that out this weekend while researching for this blog post, and I thought this one was rather funny:

I hope you all don't think college is a waste of time! And YES, college is possible!

Anyways, the reason why I bring this up is because while I was researching what kinds of alcohol prevention go on at UC Berkeley, Google directed me to something called Sober Weekend.

First I wanted to find out what the party scene was like at Berkeley. I'm not an avid partygoer, but I do have a general sense of what the party scene is like here. Most of the parties go on on Thursday through Saturday nights, usually at the frat houses and the internship/co-op buildings. Anyone and everyone is usually welcome, but the lines for the parties go out the door.

Then I looked up what the alternative was like. The UC Berkeley campus has housing halls specifically for students who are substance-free. There are rehab centers and Alcoholics Anonymous groups in the area too.

Then I found this - Sober Weekend. Before Googling it, I had absolutely no idea what it was. I had never heard it mentioned on campus, nor had any of my RAs talked to me about it. After reading some articles and blogs from the Daily Californian (our independent student newspaper), I learned that it is a "test, a challenge, or preventative measure" for " three days ... to reflect on your drinking habits." Students pledge Sober Weekend to make a statement to themselves, their peers, and their community that they are reevaluating their drinking habits. Seems like a great idea ... but it also seems like no one really knows about it.

Since I myself had no idea what it was until doing some research of my own, I was curious whether my peers had heard of it too. Out of the 13 people who filtered in and out of my room today, 1 knew about Sober Weekend, 1 had vaguely heard of it, and 11 had never heard of it.

But here's the crazy part - every single student I asked who had never heard of Sober Weekend asked me what it was, and wanted to learn more about it. And not only did they listen to what I had to say, but they also responded very positively. Many of them said that they thought it was a great idea, even if wasn't very well known.

I think we've all heard that "one person can change the world". Cliche as it is, I think I discovered the truth of that statement a little more today. Because of this blog, I conducted a little research and found out about Sober Weekend. Because I was curious about whether students knew about this event, I polled my friends. And just like that, they became genuinely interested in the topic.

So if my wee little blog can bring awareness of alcohol prevention measures to 13 students on my campus...

... imagine what YOU can do.

- Clare

Alcohol Antics on the Floor: Episode Two

2010-03-12T21:41:00.000-08:00

Yesterday night, I wasn't feeling too well, so I pajama'd up and got into bed around 11pm (remember when that used to be LATE? Oh, college). My other two roommates were working on their Physics homework at their desks. It was a quiet night in Room 302. I was all snuggled up as I was just talking to a floormate, when my other floormate exasperatedly walks into my room and says, ".....They're drinking again."

We all chuckle and shake our heads, as if to say that this was an regular occurrence that we acknowledged but did not partake in. Our side of the hall is the relatively quiet, studious side. We pretty much never go out and party at the frats. We simply cannot identify with the wild, college party scene.

Why is that? Surely there must be some preexisting definition of what college life is like - otherwise there would be no desire for some freshmen to become a part of it. What constitutes this definition?

Pop culture probably plays a huge role in defining the "college experience". Take Asher Roth's hit single, "I Love College".

Not only is this video an incredibly inaccurate portrayal of what "normal" college life is like, but it also encourages some dangerous behavior, including (but not limited to):

Wearing two condoms ("double bagging"): this actually creates friction between the condoms and increases likelihood of a broken condom
Consuming drinks that have been left outside a party: NEVER drink something you didn't pour yourself. Especially not something that has been left out for a whole night.

My question is - what makes this portrayal of college life so appealing to young adults? There must be something very exciting about the lack of parental supervision and the freedom of being able to do what you want. And I absolutely agree - so many of us would choose to catch a movie with our friends instead of going to the parent-chaperoned school dance. And likewise, so many of us would choose to party in our rooms instead of studying/doing homework on a Thursday night. The freedom really is exhilarating and very, very exciting.

However, the freedom to do what you want doesn't mean you don't have responsilities to your family, your friends, the law, and yourself. While the mini-party that occurred on my floor may have sounded hilarious with guys urinating off the balcony and drunken near-hookups, it was eventually broken up and all of the students involved were written up by the RAs - not because the RAs have anything personal against the students, but because rules are rules. Alcohol consumption is not allowed in the residence halls. Period. Whether you feel any other obligations to other entities is up to you.

So maybe the problem isn't the alcohol, but the harmful culture that is often marketed as "college life". What can we do to change the popular conception of what college life should be like?

- Clare

Growing Up

2010-02-23T17:11:00.000-08:00

In the fourth grade, my two friends and I started the unofficial and underground Beer Club. True story. (anyone catch the How I Met Your Mother reference?)

Anyway, the three of us used to hang out behind the school's main building and pretend that we were drinking beer from our Coke bottles. One of us would play bartender, and the other two would simply stumble around drunk and talk in a funny slurred speech. We thought we were absolutely hilarious, but obviously our secret little club was not well received by our elementary school's administration, and within days of the formation of the club, it was shut down. Our Coke bottles were confiscated and we were told not to play out of the yard duty's sight anymore.

Keep out of reach of children.

My friends and I look back on those days and just laugh, but when I started writing this blog, I thought about my earliest memories of alcohol, and my elementary school days came to mind. Isn't that shocking? In a society where it seems like adults are doing so much (or not enough?) to teach youth about responsible drinking, fantasies about getting drunk on beer start in the fourth grade. Realizing that definitely shocked me.

My guess is that drinking is somehow linked to the fantasy of "growing up" that all of us had when we were young. Growing up meant clacking around in your own high heels, driving your own Range Rover, becoming an astronaut or the President, and getting to stay up as late as you want. Getting to drink that wonderfully mysterious liquid that only Mom and Dad sipped on at fancy parties might be part of the fantasy that is growing up, too.

Now that we're well on our way to becoming grownups, alcohol has its own definition in our lives. Some choose to abstain because of nutritional or health reasons, others for religious reasons, still others simply because they do not identify with the culture that comes with college drinking. But for many, drinking is more than a way to reconcile with a long, arduous week. It's a social outlet.

Yesterday when I was sitting in my programming class, my friend turned to me and told me that he was having a bit of a tough time giving up drinking for Lent (a Catholic holiday preceding Easter). He said that even though he wasn't drinking, he was still going to parties and acting like he was drunk so he could have a good time with his friends on the weekend. I initially found his behavior laughable at first, but then I realized that I do the same thing - just not with alcohol.

Staying up all night, going on midnight runs for ice cream, watching Youtube videos with your roommates when you have a paper to finish the next day, skipping class to watch acapella groups sing on Sproul Plaza - while none of these things are technically illegal, they are all things we do even though we know we shouldn't. Why? Because they are social outlets, ways we can bond with our peers while doing things that exercise our youth in maybe not the most responsible ways. This is how we as college students are learning to balance our freedom and the responsibility that comes with "growing up".

And to the fourth graders following my blog - put down the Coke bottle. It's not beer. Drinking is bad.

- Clare

Fix The Current Problem, or Prevent It From Happening At All?

2010-02-16T16:38:00.000-08:00

I went home for the weekend to celebrate Chinese New Years with my family, and apparently over the weekend, some crazy things happened on my floor! To summarize a long story involving a bucket of hard liquor, a search for a missing (drunken) roommate, paramedics, and the police, some of my floormates got in a wee bit of trouble. That, however, is not what I wanted to blog about today.

After the incident, my Resident Assistant sent out an email addressing the recent issue. He reminded us of the policies on alcohol and the fact that we are all under 21 in the residence halls. He also mentioned his usual “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy. Since the beginning of the year, he’s told us that as long as we be safe, not harm our peers or residence hall property, and act sober in the hallways, we can do what we want.

While I agree that “you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink”, I’m not sure I completely agree with my RA’s words. I don’t think the problem is that college students make poor decisions. Maybe the problem is that college students haven’t been slapped with the cruel reality of the consequences of irresponsible underage drinking.

In high school, we had an assembly called Every 15 Minutes where some students pretended to be “ghosts” of drunk driving hit-and-runs. The local police and fire department were also at our school, and they had placed an upside-down shell of a totaled car on our football field with all the “dead” students stand around. The entire school was sitting on bleachers around the car watching the firemen evacuate the dead bodies from the car. Many of the student spectators were sitting around, joking and laughing as if the assembly was simply a break from class, or grumbling that we had to sit outside in the rain.

(Both images were taken from www.every15minutes.com)

The next day, there was a mock funeral for the “ghost” students. One of them made a speech to the students and parents in the audience, and she said that it was impossible for her not to feel that this whole assembly was real. She said that it was impossible to be lying face down underneath a smashed shell of a car in the rain, and to not think it was completely real.

So when I came back to Berkeley after a weekend at home and learned that one of my floormates had been in grave danger, I was extermely concerned but also extremely thankful that he had not only fully recovered, but may have perhaps learned how real and dangerous irresponsible drinking is.

Can we afford that, though? Can every college student face a near-death experience in order for the danger of drinking to become real to them? What will it take for students to realize that one wrong decision can ruin everything?

I’ve learned now that the topic of alcohol truly is tough to discuss. On the one hand, college students should be making smarter, more responsible choices. On the other hand, there’s no way to force students to make certain choices without causing a nationwide mutiny. What are your thoughts on this?

- Clare

Hi there!

2010-02-04T21:17:00.000-08:00

My name is Clare, and I am a freshman studying at the University of California at Berkeley! A bit about myself: I'm currently majoring in bioengineering, I'm a member of the Society of Women Engineers (SWE) and the Cal Christian Fellowship under Intervarsity, I love to sing and have a good time, I'm from the San Francisco Bay Area, and I'm just enjoying my first year living away from home at the number one public university... in the world!

(Fun fact: A scene from the 1967 Oscar-nominated film The Graduate was shot right here on Sproul Plaza!)

While I bleed my fair share of California Blue and Gold, I was pretty surprised to find out students at UC Berkeley drink alcohol. This might sound like a silly observation, but hear me out.

I went to a predominantly Asian-American high school in an affluent, upper-middle class community nestled in a county with one of the highest median incomes in the world. My high school was often described as "competitive", "academically-driven", and "smart". About 10% of the senior class found themselves at UC Berkeley, myself included. To my knowledge, we were not a hard-partying bunch.

Let me tell you - UC Berkeley enrolls some of the most brilliant minds I have ever met. I am so proud to be a UC Berkeley student (and a California Golden Bears football fan!), but when I realized that not everyone at Cal had the same non-partying ways as my high school peers, I was rather surprised. We are college students, supposedly capable of making mature, adult decisions - so why do some students make the decisions they do when it comes to alcohol?

That is what I hope this blog will help me find out! Hopefully I'll get to know my schoolmates and myself a little better along the way, and I'd love it if you, dear reader, stuck around for the ride too :)

- Clare